My laundry timer is going to go off in ten minutes. When the timer goes off, I will finish my sentence and go fetch the laundry, start folding, and start my real, actual life in which I am not a real, actual writer (according to some). Well, according to me, I'm a writer.

Wait, what? Can I do that? Can I "identify" as "writer"?

I've come to the place where I do call myself a writer. I write a lot. So much writing. I don't just write for these blogs; there's always at least two or three projects dancing around my head, and (generally speaking) I work on at least two of them for a few hours every week. However, not everyone will agree that I am a writer, because I do not get paid (at least, not much) yet. What's weird about that is that no one questions me when I say I am a musician.

When I say I am a musician, people usually allow it. I don't have to defend it. Is it a skill thing? I've certainly been playing a while, but I know a lot of people who are far more skilled than I am. I know plenty of working musicians who....

Oh. That's the difference. Being a "working musician" means that your passion has paid off, and that your job is to do what your whole body and soul would drive you to do anyway. Well, I am not a "working writer" yet. However, I am definitely a writer. There are plenty of writers who are better than I am, who practice more and harder, who have been at it longer, and who make real money at it. However, that does not negate the fact that I am a writer, because I do what my whole body and soul drives me to do. I put words on paper and words on a screen, and whenever I get a chance, I let the world see what came of it. I write stuff. Seriously, I write all the things. I'm one of those people who writes.

I'm pretty sure that makes me a writer.

(Thank you Dr. Glyer for your blog post about this same topic; it's been months since I read it, but now I'm comfortable with putting this post out there).