Their beef was that people were
calling them a writer rather than calling them an Author.
Now, I am not one to be insensitive
to this since I have debated this myself at one time or another, a long time
ago. That, however, was before I stopped giving a crap about what titles or
labels other people put on me…
The simple answer is that a writer
is “technically” someone who writes, and an “author” is someone who also writes…
The only provision is that an author is also, for whatever reason, labeled as a
creator. (i.e. someone can author a plan. Or someone might label God as the
Author of the universe.)
Now, without being too much of a
jerk, I can tell you that there’s pretty much no difference. Like it or not. If
you write, even if you are doing re-writes or editing, you are helping to
author that work.
Some people will contest this point
of view but, before I tell you how much of a first world problem this is, and recommend
that you get a real job. Hear me out.
Writers write. Point blank. End of
story.
It’s a saying that I’ve heard all
my life and found to be as true in saying as it is in practice. When I was
taking on other work like working fry side at a local restaurant, baling hay,
mowing lawns, doing small construction jobs, getting published for my technical
writing or managing an entire department at a large manufacturer, I was always
writing.
I never considered myself anything
other than a writer and I never assumed that this was any different than being
an author. I was writing in my spare time. I was creating my own works as an
author. Same thing.
Not sure why but this thought never
even came to mind until I began associating with other people who had published
works and then, all of a sudden, it became a topic of conversation.
Keep in mind too that your “Qualifications”
may not carry over into another field of writing. So even if you are published
in fiction you may not cut it in the published world of non-fiction or
technical writing or vice versa. Having said that this is not the hill that I’m
prepared to die on.
In my mind there is no difference.
Unless you have only the one pompous
thread of “being an author” holding your confidence and/or life force together I
don’t understand why this would even matter.
Yet to some people it does. Oh
well, to each his or her own. I won’t be losing any sleep over what you call
yourself, whether you’re published or not. As long as you KEEP WRITING!
Write on, and read what I write.
