What is a writer?

This question was asked of me for tomorrows writer’s meeting. My editor, Jamie, wanted us to kick this question around the writing groups collective heads for a few days. So I’ll try my best to giving a half way decent answer to this tough question.

First, to be a writers you must have a concept of what writing is. So, what is writing? In one word, anything. Anything could be considered writing. When you sign your name, that’s writing. You fill out your tax forms, writing. Your 5 year old child misspells his or her name, writing. Anything could be writing, from the mundane to the fantastical, it all writing to me,

The next obvious is, what is a writer? Most people will tell you that a writer is someone who writes a book, a play, a song, someone who had dedicated his or her life to writing. I’m not going to argue that this description is wrong nor right. There are billions of writers in this world that just do not realize that they are, actually, a writer.

Here is where I go off the tracks a little bit. As a writer with one book published, I am a writer. All the songs that I listen to on Spotify, (I stopped listening to the radio) the people who wrote the songs are writers. When I watch TV and have to sit through hours of commercials only to be interrupted by a show, all the dialog is written by writers. Those are the obvious answers to my question of , what is a writer?

Now for the not so obvious answer. Anyone who has ever wrote a report, a essay, a school paper (no matter how bad) is a writer. All those bazillion started but unfinished stories on your hard drive qualifies you as a writer. Poets, greeting cards, instructional manuals, direction on the back of your favorite lotion, all those were written by writers. Yes sir or mam, all those people who write that dry as the most arid desert reports that you were forced to grind through to learn how to work some damn widget, those people are writers. I mean, not everyone can be your favorite fantasy adventure novelist like I am, right?

Most people would never identify themselves as writers. Most people only see writers as the examples I gave above. I do identify myself as a writer. Why? Because I dedicate myself to learning about my craft. I take classes, I read about writing, I writer hours at a time. I know that there are people (If my readership ever go bigger, there would many people ) who would say, “I sit at my desk in the off or at home and write reports, manuals, and other stuff, am I’m not a writer! Well, yes you are.

I love to write. Many people out there in this vast world love to write. We are all writers regardless if you feel you are one or not.

Thank you, happy writing

J.W. Berwyn

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