I'm a poser.

Recently, through a weird twist of events and a God thing, I got in touch with a local writer named Katy Lee. I just got her most recent book Warning Signs, which is officially being released in October, and I can't wait to read it.

Katy Lee on Left

Anyway, because she is the most darling, lovely person you will ever meet, she invited me to join her monthly meeting with other local authors. Technically, the organization is geared towards Romance genre writers but I figured any exposure to writing I can get will be good.

I forgot how much I've been craving my writing friends and critics from school. Long gone are the days of walking down the hall to my fellow writing buddy and asking her to edit a paper or essay or short story. Now, in the real world, I have to deal with, UGH, nonwriters. :)

But here's the thing.

I was actually really scared to go.

You see. I don't really feel like a writer. Sure, I blog here and there and I write my story ideas down every so often. But I don't feel like calling myself a name I don't deserve.

Before today I thought the title "Writer" was something only earned by the battle scars of agents and editors, publishers and printings. Like a Navy Seal, you had to prove you had the mettle to push your transcripts to the bitter end.

But the truth of the matter is, there are people twice my age who are still trying to prove themselves author material. What milestone officially makes you a writer? When you finish your first story? When you publish a novel?

The answer is....none of the above.

A writer writes. He writes for the love of writing. He writes because something screams (and I do mean screams) and scratches to work it's way out onto a page.

I write because I have to. I really do.

I once read somewhere that an author must write the same way a painter must paint or a musician must make music.

I may feel like an imposter in the writing community - Who am I? Who do I think I am? - but I'll continue to push and push and push to get in. Not because I want to be elite or recognized. But because I must. Because a writer must write.