Edgewise

It's all in the title.

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Matthatter

I don't think of myself as "a writer", and I think most who do do so for shallow reasons, thinking it sounds romantic or mysterious or deep or something.

I don't like how people, knowing I write, has gone ahead and labeled me "a writer" and so just assume that I like writing.

I was an editor/writer for several automotive magazines, and on voicing my discontent with the job, my father answered "Well you like writing".

I write because that is a medium to get thoughts and ideas across, it's not like I get kicks from writing words into sentences...you can't generalize my "writing" to that (I may enjoy it if I enjoy the topic, but the writing/verbalizing is always dependent on the symbols being used).

What does it really mean to call oneself a writer? Most everyone who can write a language writes from time to time. Is it because you write more? Why define yourself according to the writing, when it is the dream or ideas being encoded into the writing that is important?

Is this why we have so many intellectual-children mindlessly regurgitating the same old uninspired shit? Because we have thought of true dreamers, psychological, sociological and political and religious geniuses, prophets, muses, those with a truely original and necessary perspective who had to write because they had to add their "revelations" to the library of human endeavor, as "writers" because most of us can't truly understand what they were and how they were?

I think the label "writer" probably best describes an above average intelligence that comes from a sharp, smart verbal brain, but, nonetheless, one not wise enough to see through its playing "writer" with all the other neighborhood kids.

I'd like to go into it a bit more, but I have to go to work.

RomanticRose

Are the two mutually exclusive?

I make a living with what I write, so I am a writer. I do not invest the term "writer" with any deep or mysterious meaning. It's just what I do. I use the word in the same way another person might say they are a truck driver or a teacher or a secretary.

From Dictionary.com

writ·er Audio Help/ˈraɪtər/Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[rahy-ter]Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1.a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., esp. as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist. 2.a clerk, scribe, or the like. 3.a person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing: an expert letter writer. 4.(in a piece of writing) the author (used as a circumlocution for “I,” “me,” “my,” etc.): The writer wishes to state…. 5.a person who writes or is able to write: a writer in script. 6.Stock Exchange. someone who sells options. 7.Scot. a lawyer or solicitor.

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Noirllyn

I'm a writer.

I used to be someone who wrote, but it began to sound obnoxious to me in the way that "I'm a writer" once did.

I write.
And I breathe.

What do you do?

I'm a writer.
I'm a breather.

What are you?



I suppose I shift back and forth from time to time... whichever is less obnoxious in context.

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Edgewise

So does someone who does not make a living off of writing have a right to call themself a writer?

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How can you expect a man who's warm to understand a man who's cold?
- Solzhenitsyn "Ivan Denisovich"

desm

No, but does somebody who only writes once a week have a right to call themselves a writer?

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It's sci-fi, and very short.

alanmt

yes

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Matthatter

I don't have much of a problem with it when it comes to one's profession. I make money writing, so under self-employment earnings I describe myself as a "writer" on my taxes.

But you know there are plenntttyyyy of people who write (with differing frequencies) who call themselves "writers" for the sake of their egos when they lack any of the special qualities of one whose thoughts make a true difference (through writing).

The word "writer", like the word "existential", has been bastardized by people whose understanding of each is mediocre, at best. So yeah, it's a pet peeve (one of many) of mine, but I may take it a little too seriously.

But yeah, one who makes a living by literally writing, oftentimes about subjects they have no real interest in, can definitely call themselves "writers" without it annoying me, because it's no different than anyone referring to themselves by their occupation. In this case, the "writer"'s connotation is not the same as it is in the subject of this thread, as I understand it.

RomanticRose

See definitions 3 and 5.

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Matthatter

Oh come now, this is silly. A five year old who writes "Cookies for dessert, yay!" in her new diary fits these definitions. Obviously Edgewise had different people in mind when he made this thread. It's not like dictionary.com has some objective input on a word that is always used subjectively.

RomanticRose

There is also such thing as overthinking one word. If the five-year old, or someone with a five year old mentality calls him or herself a writer, does that really take anything away from you?

Anyway, carry on with the semantic games. I'm going out to write.

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Matthatter

"Semantic games", or trying to understand someone's message rather than reacting to words like they mean shit by themselves?

Sam Winchester

What the hell do you mean "no!" A person who writes and makes a living out of it is called a "writer". A person who writes and doesn't is called a "writer" or an "author". The very definition of "writer" means "someone who writes". So what am I doing - doodling? Jesus but that's a stupid comment!

I dedicate a good bit of my time to writing, so what the hell am I if not a writer?

Sam.

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Matthatter

Anyone who can write in some language writes, so obviously what Edgewise means by "writer" means more than that.

Sam Winchester

I wasn't talking about Edgewise, Matt. I put his quote in there to show the question. The person I was talking to was desm.

Sam.

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