My Blog City

What is a writer

Prompt: What makes a writer a writer in your view? And accordingly, do you agree with this quote by Junot Diaz?

“You see, in my view a writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.”


I believe this is a very good statement. I have actually never heard it better summed up.

A writer to me is someone that does just that writes. An author is someone who is published, be it locally or nationally, but published none the less.

I myself am somewhere in between. I am a writer by my definition because I write all the time about everything. What I share is stuff that I believe is good enough to evoke some type of response. It may be a vision of the story or simply a feeling, and if it is really good it will envoke conversation. If what I have shared invokes something than I have done good.

Now, as most that share their work, I would love to be published someday but even if I am never published I can still rate the success of a piece. How? You may ask. It is not by about interest in wanting to put a piece into print, but how it is received by those I choose to share it with.
The pieces that I consider my best work are not all good reads to me, but they were received well and inquired about.

For example, I once wrote a short story about a young couple very much in love that the day to day weight of life had over taking their lives. The women was a do it all type; raising her children, attending school functions, working full time, basic home maintaining stuff, you know a real 'leave it to beav' type of the modern day. The man was a go with the flow type; attending what function he could, fixed things around the house, working full time, helping out with the kids but no real plan or direction laid out.
About a year after upgrading to a large enough condo to fit their family size the man started realize the couple never made time for them, so he started inventing time for the couple to just be a couple. Problem was he was the only one aware that was the reason for these time slots cut into the days. Things would come up or arguments would develop that got in the way. Finally, Finally the perfect set up happened all on its own and the couple reconnected and agreed to make it a regular thing. It saved their marriage just in time.

Well, it was not only well received by the couple I wrote it for but they had suggested it to other who come ask me to read it. Over the years it has invoked a wide range of things from mere conversations to actions. Even though I do not believe it to be part of better writing, I do consider it to be part of my better work due to what it has invoked in others.

Taz

Embracing & Feeding the writing addiction