When should you say, "I am a writer?"

I follow Bobbie Christmas, editor and writer, who lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area. She has earned her living as an editor and has run her own business for decades. In a post on her blog, she answers the question, "When can a person call himself or herself a writer?"

I suggest clicking on Bobbie's website, www.zebraeditor.com, and reading her blog posts, but below is part of her answer to the question.

People who are golfers read articles about golf, go to seminars about golf, and talk to other golfers about golfing. People who are writers read articles about writing, go to seminars about writing, and talk to other writers about writing. Golfers golf. Writers write. If you write, you are a writer. If you get published and/or get paid for writing, good for you, but those things aren’t the only way to determine whether you are a writer. Golfers don’t have to win the green jacket at the Masters Tournament to be considered golfers, do they?

Writers are people who have an avid interest in putting words and sentences together. It doesn’t matter if you never get paid for your writing. You write because you enjoy it, so you are a writer. It doesn’t matter if you write letters to the editor, articles for magazines, private journals never meant for the public, or bestselling novels. If you write, you are a writer."

Beginning writers always have concerns about this issue. As a writing instructor, I get questions. "I haven't published anything. Can I still identify myself as a writer?" 

I have been a writer since I was a child. I grew up wishing I were a writer, but I was a writer because I wrote stories, I wrote small books and I wrote poetry that no one read. You don't have to share your writing to be a writer. You don't have to publish your writing to be a writer. 

I think Bobbie Christmas gives us the best definition of a writer, don't you? If you write, love to write, and read about writing and writers, then you are a writer.