Writing is the only art form I know of where some people believe that it’s not the act of creating that makes one a writer, but the act of selling it.

I was a hobbyist writer for a long time. It was my recreation, my relaxation, but I worked very hard at it, and did my best to make what I did the best it could be. Took courses, studied techniques, words, other writers.

About ten years ago I knew I’d never do a “regular” job again (health issues) but I had two hobbies I was passionate about, both of which I could have used as a basis for a money-making venture. I am a miniaturist, make twelfth scale furniture, dolls and other things for doll’s houses. It’s a huge hobby, second only to model trains, and many people make good incomes from it. My dolls had featured in magazines, and I had requests for custom-made dolls, which are expensive. I could have used that.

In the end I went with both for a while, and then when my first novel was accepted, I went with the writing. I still make the dolls and furniture, and get great pleasure out of doing so. But I wasn’t a dilettante at either activity. Just because I didn’t seek publication for a long time, it didn’t make me any less of a writer. That’s why I dislike the terms “aspiring novelist” and “pre-published.”

It denigrates people who write for writing’s sake. Because they love doing it, and because they want to improve. Why should it be any less than someone who writes for a living?

True, it’s really hard to get published, and a real achievement when it finally happens. I don’t want to downplay that, either. Very few writers are prepared for what happens when a hobby turns into a job, and it creeps up on you. You find yourself coping with cover art, blurbs, and editing. You have an agent, you find a financial advisor or accountant. You might use a researcher, have beta readers to go through your work. You find you have to tailor your beloved words to fit house style and your audience, and you discover, with a shock, that you have customers, people who want to pay money. So you owe them something, to deliver an experience they can enjoy.

But at the heart, most writers are writers, driven by a compulsion they don’t always understand. And whether they are published or not, that’s what they are. It doesn’t make the published any better or any worse than the others, and it’s up to the published to provide help, share their experiences, just as someone before helped them.

Before I was published, I received a lot of help from Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Laura Kinsale. I attended a book launch online from Laura, and I went as a big fangirl (still am), and in it she encouraged me to talk about my new book, which was at the time my third, and the first in a new genre. With a tiny online publisher, I might add. That is the sort of generosity that I mean, and I’ll never forget that.

Linnea Sinclair, Barbara Karmazin and Margery Casares were all members of a critique group when I joined. They helped me so much with technique, and inducting me into what I could expect when I was published, encouraged me to keep on. They didn’t have to do that, but I’ll never forget it, and I do my best to pass on what they taught me and what I learned elsewhere.

So don’t put yourself down calling yourself  “aspiring” or “pre” anything. You’re a writer, because you write. You’ve completed a novel, so you’re a novelist. Stand up and be proud of it.