This guest post from author Thomas E. Kennedy is the first of four, each focusing on a question that has empowered him - and could also empower you - as a writer.
Q: When do you become a writer?
Thomas E. Kennedy: When you’re starting out and have published little, maybe nothing at all yet, it is hard to believe in yourself as a writer. Back when I’d only published two or three stories, although I had been at it for years, when someone asked me what I did, I felt funny claiming to be a writer.
Did I really have to identify myself with the day job that paid my bills even though I considered writing the most important thing I did?
I asked a former teacher, Gordon Weaver, whose resumé included a dozen books of fiction, at what point he felt comfortable saying he was a writer. His answer empowered me.
He said, "A writer is someone who writes. A serious writer is someone for whom writing is the most serious activity he or she knows. The amount of publication, money, fame you might get – these are extra-literary factors."
With those words at my back, I began to call myself a writer.
How do you feel about calling yourself a writer?
Thomas E. Kennedy is the author of eight novels, as well as several collections of short stories and essays. He teaches creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
In the Company of Angels, published by Bloomsbury in June 2010, is one of four novels comprising the Copenhagen Quartet. It is the first of Kennedy’s books to be published in the UK.
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In my opinion surely anybody who follows that inexplicable urge to put thoughts onto paper can classify themselves as a writer?
If anyone asks I tell them I'm a groom and a writer - most people are more interested in the former, I am more interested in the latter.
I consider myself a writer although I've only put pen to paper (and fingers to keys) during the last four months! I do have some published work on a freelance website and YouPublish so yes, I am a writer and proud of it! For me it was a lack of confidence that held me back but I feel so much better for finally getting my stories out of my head, it's a lot clearer in there now!
I've avoided this whole question by calling myself an author... it has an old world charm about it and that slight removal makes me feel a bit less of a charlatan than if I used the W word before being sure in my own mind that I am worthy of it.
That said, I'm not a writer, I am not an artist, I am not a parent... I do those things but, actually, I'm just M T McGuire... who happens to write... and take writing VERY seriously.
Cheers
MTM