My position is that we shouldn't need to worry ourselves so much about wanting a label that is meaningless without any defining value.
I respect that. I tell people I'm writing a novel, not because I want their admiration, if anything I'm a tad shy about bringing it up. Rather it's because I'm excited about the book and want to tell people about it. I think because I have every confidence the book I'm writing is good it gives me more confidence to say I'm writing it. I expect to be able to show it to them eventually. I see a lot of people trying, I know unless something changes, they aren't going to get there. I feel like I have gotten there. I think that's when you become a writer, when you know you are succeeding.
Yeah, as I suspected, it sounds like you two are arguing similar principles. The only difference is that @Steerpike believes you should call yourself a writer because the term is vague enough that anyone who writes has merit to do so, and @Selbbin believes the term is vague enough that title shouldn't matter, unless one is using it for the purpose of self-glorification where it's shallow to do so. All in all, the term doesn't really matter because it's either been watered down to the point of meaninglessness, or it's reserved for those who've met some kind of undefinable standard. Which is why I stand by my initial feeling that it's for a broader audience to determine. But hey, if it makes you tingly to call yourself a writer, go for it. If you hold the title with so much esteem that it makes you cringe to assign it to yourself, like in my case, then simply say you write. If writing is literally your day job, then you're kind of entitled to it (even if you're staffed by an off-brand Buzzfeedesque website writing listicles all day, in which case I might gag a little when I hear you refer to yourself as such). Heated discussion for something of such little importance. Lol.
It's just a title that holds whatever meaning we give it. I don't write for a living (yet) but I write and that makes me a writer. (Like I said it's just a title that holds whatever meaning we give it which, of course, makes this purely my opinion.)
If you are going to call yourself a writer, you should have enough respect for the craft to be doing your damnedest to improve every day and make something beautiful or terrible. Otherwise, yeah, you deserve a wedgie.
Okay, want an answer to if you're a writer or not? Throw your name (or pen name) into google, and if books that you wrote pop up, you're a writer.
Then I'll never be a writer because Google always thinks I'm trying search for a particular celebrity due to the similarities our name (same first and last name, different spelling). People are going to try to find my books and instead, they'll be redirected to watch syndications of a shitty TV show ...
I've already found out per my thread from a few days ago that the only type of writing that matters to these assholes is of the fiction novel variety.
That's how to goes. There are many obstacles to becoming a writer; names that are difficult to say or already in use, only having one hand with three fingers, or an inability to write anything of quality (i'll get over this one, its much less inconvenient than a difficult name) The correct title for the other areas is 'typer' 'wordsmith' 'willsmith' or 'personofmanywords'
Hey, OP! I'm a copywriter too. And when people ask what I do, I say that I'm a copywriter (or, "I'm in advertising" if the person isn't likely to know what a copywriter is.) I feel the need to make that distinction because when people hear "writer" they envision novels, poems, or possibly articles. When people ask my hobbies I say "I write," because when I write for myself I compose stories and creative nonfiction essays - the more traditional suggestion of the label. But whether or not it's acceptable to call yourself a writer, for me, boils down to this: You are a writer when the need to write exceeds your fear of it, and you're willing to do it despite the gnawing suspicion deep inside that you're a quack and your work is junk.
Yes! This happens all the time! Like I am the person who registers copyrights or some such nonesense.
I can't blame them, the title itself doesn't make a whole lot of sense these days, since the world of advertising and marketing is so drastically different than it once was. Lol.
Not anymore. I couldn't handle my beat anymore. Top-down corruption from every angle. In the end, I went back to my roots. Now I'm the hair police.
We have the word "amateur" for a reason. If you write, but aren't getting paid, you're an amateur writer.
Isn't that a thing, where cops are like: "how did you know we'd find her here?" "I talked to Big Jimmy down on 45th. This place used to be his beat." Or is it just that when I think of cops I immediately (and inaccurately) invasion either Ice T or 1970's detective shows?
It is, but for a word cop their beat is their thang, their rythm, their style, cause they be like, 'yo, listen to ma beat, bro.' My medication has expired.
