What does it mean to be a writer?
A question writers may or may not ask themselves. You might not think it’s such a hard question. You might think it’s no different from asking what it means to have a fashion style.
For both, you might say it means that you express yourself.
But no, being a writer, I recently found (after writing seriously for about 8 years now), is not just about expressing yourself.
Or writing stories.
Or writing for the people who read.
I basically just (@ 7:19pm, 26th, Feb, 2018) told myself my catchphrase is pointless 😛
So what does it mean to be a writer?
Being a writer is:
- To write stories.
- To write for the people who read (yes, it still stands).
- And, a process.
A WRITER is a PERSON who WRITES.
Write is a verb (according to Oxford Dictionaries).
WRITE: Compose (a text or work) for written or printed reproduction or publication; put into literary form and set down in writing. (Oxford Dictionaries)
Usually a process is also a verb. I think.
You write, swim, read, sing, you don’t stop. When you say, “I write” it’s not like you have stopped the process. Yes, maybe you’re not writing RIGHT NOW but in your lifetime, you haven’t stopped, right? If you’re a writer now that means you are in the process of writing. You might not write today but you might write again next week, right?
A PROCESS (I shout in your ear to make sure you got it)
Now, when I was in high school I had my mind set on publishing Liaffon one day. I would finish it and go the traditional way and publish it. Sure I knew it was going to be hard and it did take me 7 years (including a period of half a year when I didn’t write) to finish it.
Of course I’m proud of myself for sticking with it. Of course I believe in it.
but maybe it’s not publishable? a little voice has been saying to me ever since I started querying.
And other writers on Wattpad (some published, some not) have said that it’s very rare for an author to publish their first book.
I think high school me is being stubborn and that is sort of hindering my writing as a process. Working on my other stories, I feel more like myself with them. Maybe my adult self is more comfortable with these ones than Liaffon because Liaffon really was written when I was a kid.
An innocent naive kid.
So, okay, maybe I’m not done writing yet? Maybe I have not found my style as a writer yet? Maybe I need to finish a few books first and then see how things are going? Maybe I have no need to hurrying up and publish something?
I am a writer and when you’re a writer, you are a process. Always trying to improve, always seeking new styles, always trying to find a genre you like to write, always challenging yourself, but never forgetting that you want to publish something some day.
Just because you are not done your process as a writer (and I don’t think even the big guys like J. K. Rowling or J. R. R. Tolkien or Brandon Sanderson are done either), doesn’t mean to say you have to give up on your dream.
A dream can help motivate you.
So, I feel satisfied and happy to say that being a writer is a process but I can still be a writer for the people who read 🙂
And they all lived happily ever after. Or so they thought. It’s a process so it’s still gonna continue.
FOXWOOD FOREST 