I am a writer

I handed the copies of the story over to the proofers last Saturday. I sorta apologized as I did so and one of them looked me in the eye and asked, "Are you a writer?" I hemmed and hawed a bit, doing my usual down on myself routine of well-I'm-not-really-good-but-I-write-because-I-enjoy-it and she interupted me and said, "That's not what I asked. Are you a writer?"

It was an epiphany for me. The real answer to that question is: Yes, I'm a writer. I don't have anything published yet, (in fact, I haven't even submitted anything yet) but I am a writer. I haven't received anything back from my proofers yet, so last night I glanced over the story again. And I concluded that I am a writer, and a good one. I'm sure an editor could find a dozen things to improve the story. And that's okay. In fact, if an editor rejects my submission but points out things that could be improved, that's good. It gives me some direction to go. I think I might actually be looking forward to my first rejection. Then I will really feel like I'm a writer. :)