When you come home from a full day’s work, and you crack your fingers over your keyboard, you’re a writer.
When you have a (virtual) drawer full of unpublished novels, you’re a writer.
When you can’t stop talking to your friends and family about a novel you’re working on, you’re a writer.
When you organize your life around your writing, you’re a writer.
When you doubt your ability to form words, not to mention sentences, but you do it anyway, you’re a writer.
When you write a character who’s well over the polite line of being too much like you, you’re a writer.
When you let go of your favourite childhood names in your writing because you’re creating too many characters and you need too many new names, you’re a writer.
When you write a character inspired by an actor/ress in their younger days, you’re a writer.
When you try to write a character based off an actor/ress, but you end up forgetting all about them mid-novel and you go on writing someone completely yours, you’re a writer.
When you write about stuff which scares you, you’re a writer.
When you write about characters who share absolutely no traits with you or the people you hang out with, you’re a writer.
When you lose sleep because you need that extra thousand words, you’re a writer.
When you use almost everything you see and read and watch and hear in your novel, you’re a writer.
When you haven’t finished the first novel of a series, but you’re already planning the third sequel part, you’re a writer.
When you’ve decided life’s too short to write only stuff which is socially acceptable, and every day is filled with dread what your family will say, you’re a goddamn writer.
When you’ve passed the phase where you’ve learned everything there is to know about writing, and you’re slowly realizing you’ll never stop learning, you’re a writer.
When you’re about to finish a novel, and your heart is already partially in the next one, you’re a writer.
When you spend more time writing about writing than doing almost anything else in your day, you’re a writer.
When you’ve accepted the fact that people will never understand what it is you do at your keyboard whole day, and even less why you do it, you’re a writer.
Basically, you’re a writer. And you better get effin used to it.
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Photo by kellywritershouse.