Saturday, March 19, 2011

Author vs Writer

The other day my English professor asked our class if we would consider ourselves authors.
She said, think about it, now is the time we are doing more writing than we probably ever will in our lives.

That made me stop. Sure, I'm cranking out an essay a week, a research or exploratory paper a month, and I've got another forty hours of just English ahead of me... but God, I hope this is not the most writing I ever do.

The class debated for a while about whether we were authors, or just writers. And some factors included whether the writing was temporary - would only last as long as it took to graduate, or whether it was enjoyed, whether pride was taken in the flow of the words, the ideas, or even vocabulary. So many things to think about. What makes an author?

I think about the fact that I have two blogs going (somewhat) regularly, that randomly in class I will scribble pages of ideas for essays or personal writing, that I've been working on the same story for about six months and I think I'm finally getting somewhere...

Yes, I would consider myself a writer. Maybe even a budding author. Next semester I am taking two creative writing classes along with a class on nonfiction writing. I am constantly thinking and creating and scribing. I have plenty of insightful papers, creative prose and poetry.

And then I have my journals.

And even though I have enough papers ahead of me to fill multiple novels, I know this will not be the time of my life where I write the most. I know that is still ahead of me, and I really look forward to it.