Someone much more famous than me, and probably a much better writer than me, said (and I'm paraphrasing here, because I can't remember the quote) that you can call yourself a writer when you use a royalty cheque to pay for your electricity bill. Well, in 2014, I achieved that a number of times. So officially, I can call myself a writer.
But in all honesty, is that what writing is about? Are we only judged to be something if we make money out of it? Can we only apply that label on ourselves if we make enough money from writing to pay our bills? Now, don't get me wrong. I like having a bit of cash. And making a tiny amount of money from writing is actually a fantastic feeling - all of those strangers, paying to read something you've written - but that's not why I write. I write because I love doing it. I love sitting in a pub, cranking open my little laptop, and churning out a few hundred - or even a few thousand - words. I love taking out a notepad in a library and scribbling down as many words as possible until my hand aches. Hell, I've even written stuff on a post-it note when I've been bored during training sessions in a workplace. That makes me a writer. Wanting to write. And even on the occasions where I've backed myself into a corner in a story, and I'm suffering from writer's block, the fact that I have "writer's" block, well, doesn't that make me a writer also?
I've even had people who know me say to me, "Well, you're not really a writer, are you? Because you work at such and such a place." They don't comprehend the shitness of what they have just said. What can I say to that? Well, have you read any of my stuff? Can you write a 100,000 word novel? Have hundreds of people paid you to read something you've written? In all honesty, I don't expect every person I know to buy or read one of my books. I know a few musicians (I'm honoured to call some of them friends), but if they released a screamo-based CD, the chances are I wouldn't buy it because I'm not into screamo. I might give it a listen, out of courtesy. But what I wouldn't do is say, "Yeah, but you're not really a musician, because you just play local gigs and you've only sold a few CDs."
And here's the crux of it all. People who create - be they artists, musicians or writers - they generally stick together. They recognize the hard work of their fellow creators and even if they cannot fully appreciate it, because it's not to their own personal taste, they wouldn't seek to diminish what that person has done.
There is too much snobbery in the creative world. People who play the guitar, sing songs, write their own stuff or even perform in a covers' band at the weekend, do we consider them to be musicians? People who paint pictures or come out with some fantastic pencil drawings, do we consider them to be artists? The fact that these people are not "full-time" musicians or singers or artists, does that really make any difference? They are all doing something which other people cannot do. The label applies, irrespective of how much money they make. When you go to see a band churning out a cover version of "Sex on Fire" in your local boozer, you don't turn to your friend and say, "Yeah, that factory worker in the band, he sounds great." You say, "The singer sounds great."
I'm currently involved in a small project called The Literary Commune. They've published a couple of things by me. The magazine, which has a tiny readership, is given away free to those who would choose to read it. The contributors to the magazine, they receive nothing, but they do have the satisfaction of knowing that their stuff is being read by interested people. I would say that if you're interested in writing or if you're interested in reading fresh, original and gritty stuff, drop them a line. They're on Facebook here - https://www.facebook.com/theliterarycommune.
And remember - being a writer is not about how much you write, it's not about how much money you make. It's about the fact that sometimes you sit there and curse because you have no pen or paper and you have to write sentences, paragraphs and plots in your head, and hope that you'll remember them by the time you get home.
