Getting Your Words Out There
When one decides they are a writer, how does one prove it?
Like with people in the movie industry, writers can face the same dreaded question — Have you written anything I might have read?
This is a strange question in itself as how would I know what someone else has read if we have just met. There are a myriad of titles out there in various genres and many that I would not have heard of, let alone actually spent time on. So, really, the question is suggesting that one has to be “famous”-level to be considered a writer.
No wonder we can feel discouraged as writers to admit we are such.
When I started telling the general public that I am a writer instead of saying I was an educator, or more recently “in between professions”, I felt a new identity start to spring forth. Yet, at the same time, I found that I needed a way to answer the question, “So, what do you write?”
Well, I write a lot of things. Aside from my daily journal, I write here on Medium about writing. I write on my own personal blog about my life and thoughts. I write for online publications on topics of adoption or social commentary. Plus, I am writing a fiction novel and a nonfiction handbook.
Therefore, the simple question does not guarantee a simple answer.
Although I do not receive money (yet) for any of my writing, can I still say these various forms of “published” writing in the web-sphere proves that I am indeed a writer?
My feeling is YES, I am indeed a writer. I have started telling people that “I write on various topics such as adoption or society and share online, plus I am in the midst of writing two books.” Hopefully that satisfies their curiosity and proves that I am what I say I am now.
How do you go about proving that you are a writer who opens 📖 the sunshine ☀️ into your heart ❤️ to tell the stories📚 you have waiting to be told?
