There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.
Ernest Hemingway
I realise that this question has been asked many times in the past but, for me it has still to be answered? I don’t consider myself as a writer, although I write and have done for over forty years. My criteria used to be that if you had anything published you were a writer. Clear definition, no confusion there.
Then as more and more people began to self published their manuscripts the waters became a little muddied. Okay so I need to change my thinking on this. What if I add people who earn their living from writing but how much money should we consider is enough to earn a living from? What if I have a private income and don’t need any money from writing? Or, like me; retired. (although also, like me, any extra cash is always helpful). Where do we draw the line?
If you don’t want to self-publish (and there is nothing wrong if you do) then the route is via an agent or, if you’re very lucky a book deal with a publisher. This has always been a bit of a mystery to me as I know a couple of authors who have deals direct with publishers yet most of us would prefer to deal via an agent as they are more likely to know the business better than us.
To add more fuel to the fire, it’s now even easier to self publish via eBook. So if you self-publish one or twenty books does this mean that, at last, you are a writer? Although I’ve read some pretty poorly written eBooks that I’m certain the writer is proud of, but to be fair here that’s just my opinion.
I can’t ever imagine myself telling people that I am a writer, mainly because I am unsure what a writer actually is.
My Write 