Being a Writer by Sydney Salter

It's taken me a long time to fully embrace my identity as a writer. I often feel like a fake writer, even though I work on my writing goals almost every day. That's because I often define my writing identity by ever-shifting metrics of success, sales more than the process itself. But writers write, so if you're writing or preparing to write, you're a writer. I am a writer.

That's why writing communities matter. Recently I attended a regional SCBWI retreat and met a woman who expressed awe at finally being surrounded by people who looked at the world in the same way. No one else in her life really understood the creative part of her identity. 

Writing is so solitary and internal. I remember laughing with some writing friends during the pandemic when we realized that our lifestyles weren't all that different from before the pandemic. We naturally spent a lot of time alone.

For me finding my identity means living authentically, and for me that's always meant putting words on paper in some form. I don't thrive when I don't write. Belonging means finding people who understand that authenticity. I cherish my friends who relate to all the struggles and occasional triumphs that come with being a writer.