One cool thing about writers is that they come from all over. They aren’t just “writers.” They can be doctors, teachers, lawyers, waiters, students, and cooks – from every class, country, gender, and race. There are no prerequisites for being a writer. You don’t have to go to school to become a writer or get a special license or certificate. Sure, you can major in English and go on to get a MFA in creative writing, but what really makes a writer?
It’s more than degrees. It’s being able to write. It’s loving the craft of a story and the art of a sentence. It’s more than pumping out novels for money. It’s the need to write. It’s the desire to put your stories in the hands of other people for their entertainment. It’s the need to expand the world and defy cultural borders through stories.
Now, we’re not all going to write the next glass-ceiling shattering literary novel. We all want to write the next To Kill a Mockingbird, but that novel’s already been written. Don’t worry about writing the next Literature class hit or the next Harry Potter; write the story that you want to write.
Sometimes, we get caught up in “being a writer” and forget what the point is. To write. We’re all about the author part, but we push the writing to the side. The writing makes the writer. Great writing makes great writers. Poor writing sinks writers like the Titanic.
If you want to write, write. If you want to draw, draw. If you want to paint, paint. If you want to become the next president and change the world, go for it. Sure, you might not reach the dream. But if you quit, you’ll never know what could have been.
Write; it’s what makes you a writer. Dream; it’s what makes us, us.
Beatrice B. Morgan 