I have been writing fiction pretty much consistently since I was 10 years old. It wasn’t great fiction, but it was fiction. It wasn’t brilliant writing, but it was writing.

Over the years, I’ve met many people who’ve asked me what I plan to do with my life. In college, the question read as, “What is your major?”

To me, the answer has always been quite simple: I am a writer. However, I don’t always say this. I have a tendency to say things like, “I plan to go into film,” and for a while, “I plan to go to med school.”

The problem with saying that you are a writer is that for most people the term “writer” only means something if you’re published. If I say to someone, “I’m a writer.” They will say, “Oh really? That’s cool. Do you have anything published?” And when I say no, they immediately get that, “Oh,” look in their eyes which I understand means they’ve dismissed me as an author and lumped me into the category of “loser.”

That said, I have met many people who have been genuinely interested when I’ve told them that I write. Generally, I find that the people who are interested in the fact that I’m a writer are those who are interested in writing themselves.

People (lots of people) tell me, “I have this great idea for a story.” And they tell me what it is, and I always think, “Wow, that’s a great idea for a story.” The problem is … none of these people that have said that to me have ever actually sat down to write the story.

To me, a writer is defined by two things: persistence and dedication. A writer does not say, “I don’t have time.” A writer makes time.

I wrote two novels in college. Two first drafts, I should say. I went to school full time, I worked part-time, I had relationships, commitments, I headed two organizations, assistant-directed a full-length play, and still wrote two novels in college. It took me a long-ass time to update. It took me a long-ass time to get a chapter done, but I got it done. Sentence after sentence, page after page. And this is not including my many other attempted short stories, and half-written novels that I had to put aside for the sake of my sanity.

Alix & Valerie and TBSOL were written while my professors talked about Shakespeare and 19th Century Lit. My notes from most of my classes were scenes from my books instead of facts about someone else’s. It was the only way for me not to feel like I was wasting my time.

The thing is, not many people in college are going to say no to a party so they can sit in their dorm and type out fictional characters. Not many people are going to risk their grades so that they can post another chapter on the web. And in all honesty, I’m not advocating my lunacy. Mostly, I’m illustrating a point: a writer writes.

Note: This post was inspired by something I was reading shortly before I started writing this, in which someone was advising bloggers about blogging. The main gist was this: blogging isn’t for everyone, most people have a fantasy that they can write a few posts a day for a week or two and live in riches and happiness and that’s just not true. Blogging professionally is hard work. It involves patience, time, dedication, commitment and persistence. He said that most people quit after a short time. And it instantly made me think of writing in general. I think people quit blogging for the same reason most people don’t write novels: they’re not writers.

But what is a writer?

Well, my answer to that question is 42.

“Forty-two!” yelled Loonquawl. “Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work?”

“I checked it very thoroughly,” said the computer, “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”

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