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What makes you become a writer/author

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Unlike a scholar who needs to be recognized by another scholar or have extreme knowledge in a subject, an author is anyone who writes, whenever they be good or bad at it.

i strongly agree with mariah de la coix

I am an author because I write... or is it I write because I am an author...

 

 

 I write because i enjoy writing...

I'm an author because I've got so many stories in my head that I need to tell. Also, in the words of Lord Byron, 'If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad.'

I like to write, it helps me express myself.  I started because everyone else see's the world different then I do.  They see all the all the bad things, I see the wonders of the world.  Plus, I like what I see.  Most of the people I talk to do not.

I write because it's the easiest way to express my thoughts without ending a conversation abruptly. I guess that's in line with what Cleveland Amory said.

I found this while I was considering your conundrum:

"Why do writers write? Because it isn't there." - Thomas Berger

I heard one person suggest that defining a writer is as simple as asking, "What makes an electrician an electrician?" In this line of thinking, an electrician is someone who installs electrical devices and wiring. A writer then is someone who writes.

If this definition is true then you are not a writer if...

1) You have a major in journalism, but do not use your skills.

2) You only wait to write if there is a reason to write. In effect you will only write if a publisher asks for an article.

3) You dream of writing someday, just not today.

I don't know if this if an absolutely perfect definition of a writer, but the truth that 'writers write' is sometimes lost on individuals who have the skills to write, but rarely do.

Around the world there are individuals today who will sit down and map out a story, they will craft a sentence, they will dangle a few participles and some may finish a story they've been working on for months.

These tenacious individuals sit down each day to write. They may not be published yet, but they have already accepted the mantle of 'writer' simply because they have given themselves to the art of writing.

"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good." - William Faulkner

It's possible to have a writing career, but you must first ask yourself if, in fact, you are a writer.

I don't want to belabor the point, but if you have the skills to write and refuse to use them you may not be a writer. This point is made by looking at a person who has gone to electrical engineering school yet refuses to actually work with electricity.

I am well aware that the notion of defining a writer is broad and often vague. It is also a point that can be argued ad infinitum, but the purpose of this article is to encourage those who are dedicating themselves to the craft of writing. Each day you are learning more about yourself and how you define the world around you. With each pen stroke you are creating new worlds or explaining old ones. With each stoke of the key you are answering questions or creating new ones to consider.

If you simply must write today, as you did yesterday, last week and last year - you are a writer.

"If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor." - Edgar Rice Burroughs



Sean Noonan said:

I am an author because I write... or is it I write because I am an author...

 

 

Athina these thoughts I like and can fully appreciate. We give of ourselves onto the pages. It’s amazing how time flows as I write, yet again hours past me by in only minutes; when our hearts give up some of our-self,the rest of the world moves at a different pace. I have to set an alarm, if I am required elsewhere at any time on a writing day.

Writing is unlike anything else in the world.

Whereas a plumber, mechanic, bank teller, or whoever else, can go away from his job at the end of the day, a writer cannot. Our work follows us because it lives in our heads. So we find ourselves compelled to write it down.

But writing is not just that. Most of us believe we have something to say; be it factual or complete fabrication. The secret lies in something William Wordsworth said; 'Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.'

We are emotionally attached to writing; unlike someone who simply works for the sake of having a job. Have you even heard of struggling nurses, lawyers, sweepers, etc.?

Gene Fowler said, 'Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.' And that is the truth for most writers.



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