What does it mean to be a writer? I am thinking about this question often now as I am pursuing publication for the first time. When people ask me what I do, I hesitate, not sure what to say. My life is so busy as a home schooling mom of four that I don’t have much time to spend on writing… can I even call myself a writer at all, or am I being overly-optimistic? Am I really a writer if I have never been published? Or am I an ‘aspiring’ writer?
I always have a book open somewhere in my house that I am reading, and I usually have a story of my own running through my head as I go about my daily tasks caring for my family. I have finished writing, editing, and polishing two full manuscripts (don’t worry. I know the first one is trash and I won’t make you read it!), and I have another in the beginning stages.
I am querying agents for my novel ‘Only the Stars Remain’ and am persisting despite the growing pile of rejections. Somehow, the success of one agent requesting the full manuscript has more than made up for all the rejections!
But even if this agent also ends up rejecting it, nothing changes.I will continue to pursue publication, and I will continue to write.
So in answer to the question “Are you a writer?” I say yes. I don’t have to be a NYT best-selling author to claim the title of writer. I just have to do what I already do: write the stories that God places on my heart.