Being a 'real' writer

Holly: What do you do, anyway?
Paul: I'm a writer, I guess.
Holly: You guess? Don't you know?
Paul: OK, positive statement. Ringing affirmative. I'm a writer.

...

Holly: Tell me, are you a real writer? I mean, does anybody buy what you write or publish it or anything?

- Breakfast at Tiffany's


I think all writers have met with this question at some point. Declaring you are a writer as a 'ringing affirmative' opens you up to questioning and, sometimes, judgement. "That's great!" is followed by "So are you published?" Or, my personal nightmare, "Have I heard of you?" No, no you haven't heard of me, unless you went to my high school that year I threw a pie at the DJ during prom night. Now, at the moment I'm able to answer that question with a bit more confidence because of The Cry of the Go-away Bird, but that opens up its own can of worms. (Are you going to be famous/rich/on television? No. Are you going to be the next J.K. Rowling/Dan Brown? No. And so on). Before I signed with an agent and a publisher, however, I dreaded these questions even more, because it felt like I had to defend my status as a real writer with some sort of hard evidence ... and I was never quite sure how to defend it or where to find this evidence, because half the time I didn't feel 'real' at all. Still don't. Sometimes I wished there was a Real Writer ID badge I could whip out when questioned.

From chatting to writerly friends, I think we all doubt we're 'real' writers, no matter how far down the road we are. We all doubt ourselves, look at other writers and think "they are so much more successful/hard-working/creative than me and they have a much snazzier beret than I do. They're REAL writers. I am intimidated by their REAL-ness." We all have days where the words just don't come and we panic and wonder whether we have used up our quota of words and will be forced to work as accountants or plumbers for the rest of our lives.

Here's the thing: I don't think there is one accurate way to define a 'real' writer. To one person it might mean, as Holly Golightly said, being paid for your work. To another person it might mean putting in a certain amount of daily work on a project. To yet another, it might mean sitting on panels at writer conferences and signing books for queues of fans. Everyone has a different definition.

To me, you are a real writer if you really write. And by 'really' writing I mean working hard, seriously and with persistence on your writing, whatever it is, rather than writing one haiku every six months and never touching it again because everything you create is perfect. If you are really writing, you are a writer. Congratulations! But I still think we should have ID badges.