Call yourself a Writer?!
Not so long ago I joined the world of Twitter. I’m relatively new to the concept and so when faced with writing a short ‘bio’ about myself, I faltered. The aim of my Twitter account is to get myself out there as a ‘writer’ and ‘poet’, but the intimidation I felt in calling myself either, surprised me.
The feeling only worsened as I began to appreciate the magnitude of social media; the thousands upon thousands of Twitter accounts from published authors, indie authors, journalists and bloggers all promoting and spearheading their hard work through the world of ‘tweet’.
And so the bio I ended up writing was reserved and understated, penned with caution against offending anyone out there or, worse still, sounding conceited or ahead of myself. It went something like this:
“@Esther_Rosina - Aspiring writer & poet – Come share my world”
And so there it was, for all to see – that somewhat weak willed word – “Aspiring”
I hit the enter key and was satisfied that I had done the right thing. I was certain that the huge and volumous tweeting community would welcome my polite and contrite introduction into their world with knowing approval.
But try as I might, each time I clicked the little white bird and checked the action on my account, I couldn’t get past that word in my bio – aspiring. There is nothing wrong with it grammatically. Aspiring is precisely what I am. I am aspiring to be published, and aspiring to please. I am aspiring to be considered as a serious writer (oh, perhaps one day) but above all aspiring to be the best writer and poet that I can be.
Then I asked myself about the purpose of the bio – should it be about who I am, or what I one day aspire to be?
Surely an aspiring writer is ‘one who wants to write’. But I am writing. An aspiring poet must be ‘one who aspires to one day write poetry’. Nothing in this interpretation suggests that any of the writing needs to be any good! Or published, or paid for or winning first prize in writer’s weekly wonderful words-worth competition.
It dawned on me, that I was inferring was that I was not yet a writer. By causally inserting the word ‘Aspiring’ I had shielded myself from the very thing I had decided I needed Twitter for in the first place – exposure. I had given myself the perfect get out clause. Should anyone turn around and debunk my short story or slate my perfect poem, I could simply say – “yes yes you’re quite right, but I’m still learning, I’m only an ‘aspiring writer’ at the moment. Someday I’ll get much better at it’.
I have written stories (good or bad) and I am writing a work of fiction. I have written poetry and I am just starting to add to my blog.
So if I do - then I must be.
I am a writer.
I logged onto Twitter and I changed that bio. It now reads ‘@esther_rosina I’ve taken the word ‘aspiring’ out of my bio – I’m a Writer and a Poet dammit! – Come share my world’
And I’ve received more tweets on the subject of my bio than my writing! Many fellow tweeters and fellow writers out there have commented and praised the removal of the ‘A’ word, and are doing just the same.
Even better is to remember this – an ‘Author’ is broadly defined as “the person who originated or gave existence to’ – nowhere does it say ‘the one who got paid for writing a book’
Whether you are published or unpublished, winner or runner up; if you write, you are a writer.
The very task of writing and avoiding writers block is hard enough as it is, without bringing on an identity crisis to boot. So if you are a slave to your biro (or keyboard) and writing is what you do, be proud and shout it from every bio!
I am a Writer - dammit!
