I am a writer.

What on Earth gives me the audacity to say such a thing? I’ve never been on the New York Times Best Sellers list. I’ve never won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, although I’m pretty sure what I’d say in my speech.

Oh, she says she’s a writer. (Eye roll.) 

This thought has paralyzed me for years, even decades. I hear people whispering, “Who does she think she is?” from around a corner where they don’t think I can hear them. It’s the same feeling as intercepting a note from someone in Middle School who you thought was your best friend, only to find them gossiping about your ugly shoes.

“If she wears those brown shoes one more day, I’ll puke! LOL!”

Who does she think she is.

Still, every chance I get I write. Stories, screenplays, novels, poems, songs. Some unfinished. Most tucked in a drawer or kept in a file folder on my desktop that I hope  no one finds after I’m laid off from my marketing copywriter job.

Sure, I’ve had a couple of short stories published. I was a quarter-finalist in a screenplay contest. I belong to a writer’s group and I take a lot of writing workshops. But does that make me a writer? One who can introduce themselves as a writer at a cocktail party? Or someone who can post writerly things on social media? 

I have an idea about what a writer should be and I keep that image exalted on a pristine pedestal earned through intellect and profound talent. 

No, that’s not what makes me a writer.

I am a writer because I write.

Fuck the naysayers who live in my head.

If you’ve ever hesitated to call yourself a writer like I have, but you feel writing bubbling out of you all the time, please join me on this journey. Let’s declare ourselves worthy. 

Let’s bring that writing out of the desk drawer and into the light. Let’s embrace a writer’s life. Let’s just plain enjoy the feeling of words filling up a page.

When I greet you, I’ll say, “Hello, Writer!” I hope you’ll do the same.

Follow me for a humble source for inspiration and validation, and a dose of relatable self-deprecation.

Let’s write. Because that’s what we do.