Ande,this is an excellent OC..but I can not see the video...A writer for me is the one that teaches me beauty,dreams,how to be a work of art,to have sensitivity,sense and sensibility...learns me symρathy and kindness but also ρride and self defense...Gives me a friend when I am alone and sanity when others call me insane...A writer dared what I did not and lived a feeling life...love,difficulties..a war without a war and stayed with beauty....Thank you for asking!Rated..

Uh, you might want to recheck that link. There is no video.

Naah, I'm not a writer. I don't sell stuff.

Now, you really want to start an argument here, don't link being a writer to money, link it to EP's.

Then I'm REALLY not a writer.

Ande, I too was drawn to your post (actually because of Stathi's rating I saw on the News Feed) -- the title was too intriguing to miss!

Stathi, thanks for your response. This was it for me: "A writer dared what I did not."

Some are clearly more talented than others, but the putting pen to paper and revealing the self is the important part. Without such bravery, we would have nothing to read!

Sorry...couldn't imbed the video...but if you copy and paste link into browser...it will work...I hope. Anyway, dig the blue jacket. I'm all set for fame. :)

Stathi, Kosh, SagCap..
Thanks for reading. I was trying to imbed the video. I didn't think the post was "up". So much to learn....so little time. Again :)

Ande, skypixie wrote a post about how to embed a video: it's pretty straightforward. I can pm it to you. -Erica

I saw the video and agree with her. Unless you can bring the reader in and make it seem they have something to lose, you will never be a writer. I feel for the great writers and painters who were only discovered after they were dead. It just seems so wrong.

i don't consider her a writer. i consider her somebody who makes money from writing and dresses for the part.

Well damn, Scanner. I'd better get busy. My senior clock is ticking away. I did like what she said. I tend to write "at" my reader...even in commentary. Learned from her. Thanks Mary, if you are reading this.

You'd be writing well no matter what color jacket you owned! A writer is anyone who loves to write no matter if they're paid or not.

In the immortal words of Popeye the Sailor man, "I yam what I yam and I write what I writes."

@Ben Sen....there is always something to be learned. She is a money machine, but it is the publishers who got her started. Can't fault success. On the other hand....I consider myself a writer ..although for many I am a hack. I am also not at all financially successful...but over the years thousands of people have read my stories and essays. Their comments have brought me a great deal of satisfaction. I do not live for fame or fortune. But a paycheck now and then sweetens my mood. It was good to hear from you...thanks for weighing in.

Thank you Patrica. You are such a neat person.
Jmac...you certainly is. Smoke a pipe do you?

I have a blue jacket too!!! So nice to know I can call myself a writer.
Love your new avatar ;))
rated with love

Great new photo, Ande!

Only in my imagination

I write. Everyday. I'm a writer.

r.

I changed my photo so you wouldn't confuse me with Mary.
The jacket is back in NH. Not really!

It is a symbol of hope and victory.

My grand daughter who is 18 months old. The baby...(oldest is 18) ...is having some pretty heavy surgery today. She will not eat...a pretty rare condition, but not unheard of. She is very happy and as cute as can be. However, there is something, very wrong. They have to insert a g tube...(feeding) into her abdomen. Her parents have really had to put their lives on hold as everything centers around getting sufficient nutrients to her....during her early development.
Am antsy so lets get on with some diversion. Lets talk writing.

In advance, thank you for your care.

I can't get the video to work...

I read..I write..
But never had a blue blazer like that nor received a cent...
Sure think of myself as a writer tho'...
We all have something to say..
Media puts it out there front and center...

Okay, so then I am not a Writer.

Question: "What do you do?"
Answer: I write.
Question: Do you get paid?
Answer: Sometimes. Depends on whether I'm writing for myself...or to get paid. If I am writing to get paid...I do.
Answer to Answer: Then you are a writer.

Thanks for rating Jon. It was payment today. So far I'm not making too much. :)

Thank you Erika...I like it better. Not so posed. Taken it in Japan.

DH...you have a fine imagination. Don't we need it to write fiction?

Mission...I'll send you my jacket...size 4. :) I think I'm done with it for a while.

Aureole, when I'm dead....my grandkids will say our Nana was a writer, and it is really for them that I write. I have no story teller...and so decided to be my own. One day they might be interested in my life...if not....dumpster time. I do know what you are saying. My daughter was a newspaper journalist and my son-in-law works on the "hill" for AP. They certainly are writers/journalists. Not really sure when we earn our "W"...Surely the politicians who write books and earn a lot of money from them are not writers. Guess it's about perception too.

I call myself a blogger and not a writer. Writer seems such a high calling...like artist. And as my daughter likes to hear me say I am not an artist, I'm just a lady who mucks around making stuff in the backyard. ha

If it has not been brought up already, is the typo in the title on purpose?

As to being a writer, if you write for the love of writing, then you are a writer.

@ JoeBono...AWKWARD....when I was editing, trying to insert the video..directions call for you to delete title and re-insert later. Obviously I wasn't paying attention when I re-posted. THANKS.
Goes to show that I am a hack writer. My husband usually edits my stories.

Zanelle, I know what you mean. It took me a long time to be able to call myself a writer. But this is what I was told when I took a course on publishing and sales. You must acknowledge yourself first. Particularly if you plan to sell your books or manuscripts. If you believe that you are not a writer...you will carry that idea in your mind. Its like not voting for yourself. Just another idea to think about.

I can't play the video because our satellite server is stingy with bandwidth, but I get the drift just from her shit-eating grin and, of course, the blue jacket. As to whether I am a writer or not, hey, hear this:

I'm a writer, hear me roar
Altho my books most folks ignore
But I've gone too far to go back an' pretend
That I'm just a blogger and nothing more
I not ashamed when I blogwhore
I'll pimp my printed products to the end! - sincere apologies to Helen Reddy

My pimpsite

Hee. Thanks for the link. What a droll, funny lady. But, you know, she's right. She's lucky to be in her position. I've never read her books, but now I'm curious. ... BTW: Love your new photo!

Matt...I will now have that melody stuck in my head for days. Thanks.
Here's a good mantra for us bloggers/sometime writers/Writers.
"Its about the message stupid."
Think that will fly?
Love your shirt.

UPDATE: Baby grand daughter out of surgery. Doing well. Biopsy results not available. Will have to wait and see.

I am a writer. Nonfiction is my affliction. I've written many short stories and won a few essays over the years, two of which were paid gigs.

I am learning to write fiction. The genres are fascinating. I've learned that writing well requires many things and every reader out there is starving for something exciting to hit the pages! They want to be swooned into the storyline and they want their inhibitions told in an unbridled fashion which tantilizes and teases. They want more than stock characters. A deluge of verbioge with no emotional value attached to them are boring.

You are more than a writter. And so am I.

I have a blue jacket too. I must be a writer.

Hey Belinda...thank you so much! I needed that..:)

I am a writer, but my tax person warns me that I have made so little at the task that I should stop claiming "business" expenses for fear the feds will come knocking. I can still claim to be a writer, I simply cannot claim it as in income producing occupation eligible for tax deductions. But, I am a writer.

Sometimes it is difficult to see the distinction between "Making things up" and lying.

Author vs. Writer. Not all writers are published authors. But not all published authors are writers. This is the first time in 35 years there will be no Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Something to think about . . .

No, but I play one on OS.

Thanks for this post. This is something I think about a lot, especially since I've written for my jobs and have hired writers. When people say "writer" they usually mean "fun" writing--fiction, personal memoir, etc. I've written, and hired for, "not fun" writing--reports, newsletter articles, profiles, etc. The effect of blogging on professional writing has been interesting. It's harder and harder to find people who can take the "I" out of their writing. As one of my colleagues told a young man whose book review for us ended up being about his personal experience, "No one in this audience gives a crap about you." We didn't publish it. Nor, when people are solely focused on their own stories, is it easy to find people who can tell someone else's story effectively and engagingly. But, in my experience, true writers give a crap about grammar and punctuation. To quote Stephen King (and I don't necessarily agree), "The road to hell is paved with adverbs." So I'm still wrestling with what makes someone a writer vs. someone who wants to tell their story and uses writing to do it.

I always thought a turtleneck was the official garb, of a real writer.

You don't need to make money to be a golfer, you just need to golf. So in my mind, if you write, you're a writer. Just maybe not by profession.

I have a blue jacket, but I have a green one as well and that doesn't mean I won the Masters. Nice piece. R

Gerald, thanks. I have a fantasy that if I come back again, I will be a pro-golfer...and by that time they will have a green jacket for women.

Good thoughts JL. A semi-pro writer, perhaps?

OK, Larry got that part covered. I have a few mock turtle necks in a variety of colors.

500 words..And as my own grandfather, copy editor said....Keep it simple. Eliminate every other word and see what you've got.

Con, your disguise is magnificent.

From the Midwest...you will probably note an absence of OS writer/bloggers now...as we scramble to write fiction.

Beauty, when I was a real estate manager, I used to claim panty hose. My accountant said. "No Ande...I don't think so. "

No, Larry, the turtleneck is the uniform of the orchestral conductor.

Writer, huh? Is it analogous to being a musician? I've been paid for that once in a while, though not much, and it has certainly never been my living. In music, I'd say "amateur musician" or, maybe, "semiprofessional" if I was having a year where my playing more than covered expenses, but I don't know if there's an equivalent in writing.

You can sure tell where this woman is from. Mary Higgins Clark wouldn't know how to put a final R in a word if her life depended on it. Like about 3/4 of my family. And me, if I'm tired enough. (Pronounced, at the time, "TIE yid.")

The first 10 years of my mime career I called myself a mime performer. If someone called me a "mime artist" I cringed. I didn't feel worthy of the title. (A"performer" is skilled at the craft and people can enjoy the performance. An"artist" goes beyond mere skills that impress to creating something that deepens the emotional understanding of the audience. It isn't always enjoyable, but it's unforgettable) It was twenty years before I called myself that, and I had to prove it to myself with every performance.

I agree with this lady, that the audience will determine if you are a writer, it's not for you to decide, but I would interject "successful writer". The writer I want to be may not be materially successful. I haven't read any of this author's books, but I smell a formula. To me that's "performance". Skills can dazzle, but rarely move an audience to tears.

I want my "audience" to discover themselves along with me. I want to imagine them laughing and crying with me.

Mime Talker: another great comment. I am learning so much today.
Your words:
"I want my "audience" to discover themselves along with me. I want to imagine them laughing and crying with me."
My words:
"As do I" .....

Those royal blue suits remind me of the 1980s. The bad part of the 1980s. But a nice piece by you.

Thanks Mary. I took my blue jacket picture off. Told the photographer it was goofy!

Drag? well, yeah sure..that is the definition of good "writing":
to pull someone's headspace away from all the stupid shit
they have been contemplating for, like, uh, centuries,
the music, the currentest scribbles,


Ay , an audience of Idiots.

one can do one of two things:


: placate the Idiotic, and become a writer of the Narcissistic
Nihilistic Earth.....

or

:give some Inspiration.

in-spire: to breathe....

Ande:

No blue jacket : (
No able to imbed videos lately : (

I is a writer, though : D

(and if OS put a spell checker inside the new blog box, we'd all have cleaner copy)

James...Good response. I was trying to play a little with Ms.Higgens words using drag instead of invite. Can't be perfect all the time. Did evoke some comments though. Thank you.

Kate...a spell checker in the blog box would be great. But I also see it as an opportunity to be unedited for a change. I try to paste my stories and essays from Word documents, however, the comments are spur of the moment. Once in a while I just dive in and often make mistakes. However that is the story of my life. I changed by blue jacket picture today and was happy with that too. Just saw the video and decided it would be a good gig. As it happened it evoked a lot of response. Me...I'm all about the message. Thanks so much for your comment. Please come back again.

Newbie blogger, not a writer. No aspirations to be a writer, but am loving the chance to create some new neuron pathways (or exercise my gray matter) what the hay.

I have a cute pink jacket, a couple of black ones, and a green one, but no blue...

Writing is what I do, have done since I was 8. Which doesn't mean that any one piece or book or essay is good. Good isn't possible a lot of the time. But writing is wonderful, and nothing to do with getting published imho. R