How do you know… or who decides, I suppose… if and when a person is “allowed” to refer to themself as a writer?
- Must your work have been published in paper form? Must it be an actual book, or are magazines, trade journals, newsletters, etc. acceptable?
- What if your medium is online – web site articles, blogging, etc.? (Is that cheating, somehow?)
- Does it matter who publishes your work? What about self-publishing? (Cheating, again?)
- Must you have been paid for your writing? Must you sell a certain amount of product?
- Must you have an audience of a specific size or demographic? What if all you ever do is write for your own consumption? (If a tree falls in the forest…)
- Do you have to be “good” by some particular person’s definition? Or is the love of writing enough?
So many questions… and I suspect the answer completely depends on who you ask.
I think I’ll just keep writing until I figure it out.
What do YOU think?
(originally posted in November, 2009)
