Not long after I published my first book, Time’s Crossroads, this past summer, I was standing in the Visitor’s Center/Ranger Station at Lone Pine CA, picking up permits for a 38 mile hike to Mt. Whitney, with some close, and dear friends. Pastor Fred, a friend from high school, and his wife, Cinda, Jim, a friend from work (we both were retired at the time of this hike), and Ken and his wife Susana. Ken and I also worked together before transferring out west. Ken and his wife were passing through so this was a quick meet.
While I was talking with Ken, I heard the Ranger ask where the rest of the party was, Fred pointed at me and said that’s, “Gregg, he’s crazy, but that is okay, because he’s a writer.” We laughed, as did the Ranger, then I was asked by the Ranger what I write, and where to find it. I have no idea if the good Ranger ever bought Time’s Crossroads, but it was the first time I was the only writer standing in a room explaining my book to a complete stranger. Fred was being Fred; it is what makes him a great preacher, and dear lifelong friend. His remark was meant in love and friendship and I have come to cherish it with honor.
In the internet world I have found friends from years past, never mind how long past. One became a teacher, at the same high school I graduated from, though she attended the crosstown rival school. When I left in the fall after graduation for the Air Force, we wrote to each other for a while. Years later, we reconnected, and I remarked. I didn’t know why, in retirement, I thought I could become a writer. Her response was that I have always been a writer; it is just now that I am figuring it out.
Then in the fall I attended a local Writer’s Retreat, and attended workshops hosted, by an author I admire, Ron Collins. One of Ron’s topics was how we see ourselves in this world we became a part of, by our own free will. We are writers, authors and artists.
If you write, and someone asks you what you do, your response should be, “I am a writer.” Or, “I am an author.” And by all means say it with pride. No adverb in your response is allowed. I AM… This also applies to editors and proofreaders. Say it with pride. It is your art, your passion.
Ron Collins has blog at http://www.tyopsphere.com He has many interesting thing to say there.