You are a writer when you write. It is that simple. A writer writes. Just as dancers dance, actors act, and violinists violin. What is different about writing is that we always do that alone. We might be writing in a noisy house, or a busy cafe, but even so we do it alone. Writing is not a team sport. One-hundred writers sitting down in a room doesn’t make for an orchestra. One writer, plus one writer, plus one writer makes three writers, not a trio. Long distance runners run alone, but they are competing with each other. As writers, we are not competing with anyone. Unless it is ourselves.

Writing is a lonely craft. We don’t get gold stars for writing faster. We don’t get rewarded for using more words. We get rewarded by how we feel when we are writing. The focus. The pleasure in feeling one’s characters become vivid, of saying something that means something to us.

Being a writer means taking pleasure in words, which are the paints of our craft. The notes of our craft.

When it is all over, then, yes, sometimes we do compete with others to get published. But, like other artists and people with passions, it isn’t for the recognition that we do our work. Painters paint whether they get into galleries, or not. Runners run whether they win races, or not.

What I think makes writing the hardest of activities is that it is so hard to find the kind of time that we need as writers to sit down, be left alone to find our way for the day. You show up to dance class and you dance. You show up to ball practice. And you practice your sport. It is not so easy, not so easy at all, to sit down in the midst of a busy day — and whose days aren’t busy — with our heads filled with commotion — the test coming up the day after tomorrow, the report due Sunday night, the problem with a friend, the gorgeous blue sky and perfect weather that makes you want to go outside, or the ferocious storm whipping rain and wind against the windows, distracting in its excitement.

What it means to be a writer is that, against all odds, we find a way to develop ideas with words through sitting down somewhere to write. Speaking for myself, I have been sitting down somewhere to write nearly every day for the last sixty years. Have I been a successful writer? Well, yes and no. I have not published as much as I would have liked. Like many writers, I find it hard to finish projects. But while I am slow, I am pleased with what I have published. I have several projects in process right now. And, I wouldn’t trade writing time for anything else.

What it means to be a writer is that we do our best to be writers. As you get older you will find that you will meet many adults who tell you that they “want” to be a writer. They have “ideas” for a story or a book. But the writing of that story or book is always in the future.

It is really hard to be a writer. It isn’t the writing that is the hardest part. Most of us who write speak of “finding” the time to write. In real life, we have school. We live inside a family. Adult writers have other constraints. Nobody can make the decision, these are the times I am going to write. If you think of writing like a sport, then like in sport being successful is certainly made easier by a family that makes the time for you to participate. I think it can be helpful to think of writing in terms of a school sport, or in terms of playing an instrument, or taking dance. As with a sport, it helps if your family helps you set aside the time to be alone to focus on your writing.

I guess, I’ll put it this way, to be a writer you have to train yourself to write. Additionally, you may have to train your family to let you write! Which then enables you to be the writer you want to be.