Tutorial Tuesday – The 'When' of being a Writer

Today's blog isn't so much instructional as it is a pep talk.  When you're struggling, sometimes it's not a new technique that you need.  It could be something as simple and monumental as a pat on the back.  If you feel like you're grinding and grinding and getting nowhere with writing, this one's for you.
You want to be a writer.  It's your dream.  So when can one call herself a writer?  Is it when she's finished her first story?  Submitted to a magazine or publisher?  Has her first article or novel in print or on an e-reader?  Or actually making a living with her stories?
I suppose it's a subjective thing.  Being a writer means different things to different people.  Some won't accept you have access to that label until you have published and made sales to the public.  Some will even goes as far as to tell you you're not truly an author until you have risen to award-winning bestseller status.  Otherwise, you're just a hack, a wannabe.
 I take the opposite viewpoint.  Have you scribbled a few lines of dialogue?  Jotted down an idea for a story?  Do you read writing magazines?  Studied your favorite novelists for clues as to how they have mastered description?  Are you reading this regular tutorial and others like it because you hope to find inspiration?
If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions, then allow me to congratulate you.  In my view, you're a writer.
Okay, so maybe you're not a PUBLISHED writer.  Not all authors are.  I was a writer for 25 years before I got to add the 'P' word to my status.  But if you are consistently trying to put a story together, working to educate yourself on producing the best possible prose, and you continue to study the craft even when it feels like you'll never get anywhere with it, I feel you've earned the right to say, "Hello.  I'm a writer."
I believe this because writing, done right, is hard and often thankless work.  People tend not to respect it that much, especially if you write certain genres.  Other writers might even sneer at your efforts.  Before I wrote erotica, I wrote horror novels.  At my very first writers conference when an elder attendee learned I leaned towards the macabre, his lips curled and he actually recoiled from me.  "Why would you write that?" he said.  It was as if I'd told him I sacrifice newborn puppies to Satan.
Even your friends and family might not take you seriously.  They'll think nothing of interrupting you as you battle to get that elusive perfect word on the computer screen.  They may kick and scream when you spend money on a decent printer or run off for a week to a conference. 
That's why I'm willing to give you all the credit in the world for your efforts.  There is one catch to this title of 'writer' however:  you have to keep at it.  You can't quit writing and continue to call yourself a writer.  You have to be bold and brave and dare all to move forward in your efforts.
I will now share with you my harsh assessment of someone who was once a writer.  Harper Lee wrote the masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird.  In the neverending argument as to what is the greatest novel of all time, this one will always be a top contender.  It is simply amazing, and I can only gape at the sheer genius of the story and its execution and feel infinitely small in relation to it.
It is also the only book Ms. Lee ever wrote.  After its publication and the rave reviews it received, she refused to produce any further stories.  She said it was because she would never repeat the success of To Kill a Mockingbird.  In short, she was a coward.  She gave up out of fear, a most detestable action if there ever was one.  Perhaps she never would have matched her first novel for brilliance, but she might still have continued to gift the world with great stories, stories that would have opened our eyes and spoke to our hearts.  Where would literature be if writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, or Mark Twain gave up after their initial successes for fear of turning out something a little less stellar?
Harper Lee is not a writer.  She was for a very brief shining moment, but she chickened out on us and has been thrown out of the club. 
Those who churn out stories just to make a buck are just as questionable to me.  If they don't have their hearts in it and do nothing to enhance their storytelling skills, then they aren't really writers any more than the girl who puts the basket of fries in boiling grease at Burger King is a chef.  To this day I read the magazines, pick apart the styles of my writing heroes, and submit to the critiques of my proofreaders in the hopes that my writing will improve.  The addition of 'published' to my title of 'writer' is no excuse to rest.  If I don't keep at it, then I have no right to call myself an author.
If you are reading this tutorial with an eye towards becoming a writer, then right now you ARE a writer, my friend.  Every moment you strive to tell your story, you have climbed that mountain.  You who continue to dare, who face down the critics, who fight for a few minutes to write just one little paragraph; you are a hero of authorship.  When you stick your neck out by submitting your work to publishers, you are a fearless and mighty god/goddess of prose.  Shout it from the rooftops with gusto.  To anyone who asks what you do, add it to your conversational resume: "I'm the proud mom of three children, a nurse, and a writer." 
Because you absolutely, positively are one of us.  Three cheers for you, my brave friend.  Now go write.