I know this is just a turn of phrase and usually, when people say this, they mean they want to be published, but where did it come from?  A writer is just something you are.  Like a runner or a bowler.  You don’t dream of becoming a bowler.  You just drive to the bowling lane, rent some shoes and start bowling.  Just like writing but without the loud crashing.  You just pick up a pen and start writing.  Bam!  Instant writer.

I think it might be because some people view those that are already published as writers, which is true.  But it is not the only way to be called a writer.  An author, yes.  Not a writer.  This is like the phrase, “I could care less.”  It needs to be corrected.  I dream of becoming an author but I’m already a writer.  I couldn’t care less about Britney Spears’s bald head.  If I could care less, then there’s a small piece of me that does care, which just isn’t true.  For most people that dream of becoming a writer (read: being published), the wording is wrong because, technically, they’ve already reached that dream.  Damn those socially acceptable colloquialisms.

So remember, if you write . . . anything . . . poems, short stories, novels, fanfiction, whatever . . . you are a writer.  Don’t let any pretentious ass take that away from you.  I think that might be it too.  Some schmucks see publication as the only validation for someone being a writer.  Get over yourselves, dudes.  The second you put pen to paper and start scribbling, you’re a writer.  Nothing is going to take that away from you.  The real work comes in making that leap to author.  Therein lies the hard part . . . and the dream.

But there are some people out there that actually dream of becoming writers, meaning they’ve never written anything before, don’t do it at all, and want to some day write something.  To them I go O_O and say just pick up the damn pen already.  It’s not hard to become a writer.  It’s a bitch to become an author.