You Are A Writer, Because You Write. You Are A Dancer, Because You Dance.
I have noticed this tendency in me to brush off people when they tell me, “Oh, that’s wonderful. You are a writer.” This usually happens when I tell them that I write every single day, that I am a writer at heart, and that I have a few novels published on Amazon. I laugh it off. “Oh, no, I’m not a ‘real’ writer. I don’t have ‘real’ novels published, by ‘real’ publishing houses, and I am not recognized by the literary world as a ‘real’ writer.”
Of course, I have realized that this is all nonsense. I never say this exact thing to someone else who tells me they have a novel published or they are writing a blog. If they are writing, they are a writer to me. I realize that people unnecessarily put random criteria on these things.
I’m only a writer if I have a book published by a major publishing house. Or I am only a dancer if I appear on a dance show or in a dance troupe. I am only a musician if I have an album, and fans. I am only something if I am recognized by hundreds of others for it. And perhaps, also paid hundreds of dollars for it. Preferably millions.