When am I a writer?

So, what does it mean to be a writer? When can you call yourself a writer? The simple answer is if you write you are a writer!

Let's break it down, take me for example, I am so new to writing that I cannot consider myself a writer yet (this is a personal choice, if you want to call yourself a writer and you feel ready then congratulations my friend, I salute you!). I do not write every day which is one of my goals at the moment, imagine a writer that does not write, ludicrous! However, I can argue that I write this blog and therefore I am putting my writing out there for all to see, by default making me a writer! Ugh! Friends, it's so hard to decide at which point you can call yourself a writer, what do you think? Are you a non-writing writer too?

To me being a writer means more than just writing words, its about observation skills too, a dear friend of mine described me as 'living in HD' which I thought was a great way to describe it. I am a keen observer and notice things many of my peers don't. I will notice bugs crawling on leaves, if someone has a new outfit, a trail left behind by a slug and all sorts of other tiny details. I usually have my eye on everyone in the room and can gauge facial expressions very well, I gather them up and store them in my mind for if I ever need to create a character. But there lies the problem you see, I keep them in my mind, I have an incredible imagination and a freaky ability to never forget a face so I never write them down! I literally have a character bank in my head! I know its odd. But that's how I roll! I shall have to start carrying a notebook with me.

I am a research fiend too, I love researching things, finding out all I can about a subject and condensing it down. But I have a tendency to get caught up in the research phase and not get any further, I have whole folders dedicated to different subjects that I have researched because I have an idea for a book I would like to write, or just found something interesting and got carried away. You know when you watch a video on, say, how to fix a dishwasher on youtube because yours has broken and then 4 hours later you are watching animal reunions and crying your eyes out? Well that's me with research, all my research leads to new ideas and therefore more research. I have a problem, I need to join researchers anonymous, but I know full well I would never get there because I would be too busy researching the best one!

So here are my goals for now (no time constraint because they will be ongoing)

1 - Write. Everyday. Even if it's only a few lines.
2 - Write the characters in my head down so I don't loose any!

That's it! 2 goals that seem so simple but will make such a difference.

What about you? Do you have dreams of writing too? Or are you already a writer and want to share you best tips?

Until next time......xx