Am I a Writer?

Am I a writer? That’s a concept I struggle with often. I’ve read articles or quotes written by well known authors that would say if you don’t have the urge to write every day, then you’re not a writer. To them, not putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) every day meant that you truly weren’t destined to be a writer. If I was following their logic, then no. I’m not destined to be a writer. Life is hard and busy, and I don’t find the time to write every single day. There are weeks that go by where I don’t write, but does that really mean that being a writer isn’t the right career choice for me?

In May of this year, I attended Yallwest, which is a Young Adult book convention held every year in Santa Monica. I love reading YA – the genre as a whole has really opened up in the past ten or so years and I wish that there had been more options like there are now when I was a teen. 

I had the opportunity to meet Tomi Adeyemi, the author of Children of Blood and Bone. Side note: it truly is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it. As I was waiting in line to meet Adeyemi and have her sign my copy of her book, I thought about what I would say. I decided that I would talk about how open and honest she is with her writing process on social media and how I’ve really connected to that. She has recently struggled with deadlines in the publication process of her next book, which even included the release date of her book getting pushed back to December 2019, and I thought it was very refreshing to see someone openly discuss their struggles instead of acting like writing and getting published is a walk in the park.

When I got up to Adeyemi and said the above, she asked if I was a writer. I replied and said I was an aspiring writer. She said, and I’m paraphrasing, “you’re not an aspiring writer, you are a writer. You can say that you’re an aspiring author but once you commit to writing, you are a writer.” 

What she said really struck a chord with me. Anyone can be a writer – you shouldn’t need to write something creative every day for that to be a fact. You can, of course, be an aspiring author if you haven’t been published yet, but you can absolutely be a writer. 

We all get stuck in our own heads about not filling the mold or the ideals of what we think we should be at any given time. I wanted to share this moment with you because I am sure many of you struggle with being a writer and what that precisely means. And if you’re anything like me, you spend more time in your own head trying to figure out plot holes in whatever it is you’re noodling around in your brain rather than just getting it out on paper. 

Just remember. You are a writer. So, go write!