You're not a writer until you are published

When I was 15 years old I read the book "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. The book had such a profound affect on me that I decided then, at the ripe old age of 15, to try my hand at writing. I am 23 years old now, and am still writing. I am about to start my first semester at a junior college, and I currently work at a book store. I live in my parent's basement with my girlfriend. I am just now coming to the realization that I am, and will always be, a writer.

I am not published, unless you count the free self publishing that can be done on the Internet. I have never submitted work to anybody. For most aspiring writers, getting their poetry, short stories, or novel length story published and sold in a book store solidifies them as a writer. The idea of being a writer has no substantial ground unless you are published. You can't tell someone, "I am a writer", then expect them to think of you as such without having a book published with a publishing house.

Being a writer is painful, but all in the same sensation of pain, it is beautiful. It is an art form that isn't considered such by a lot of people. Writers, just like other artists (painters, photographers, and musicians), are typically very poor. I live in my parent's basement, had to wait until a certain age to have the government pay my way through school, and can't afford anything beyond Ramen Noodles and Raviolis for lunch. This is "hand to mouth" as Paul Auster put it.

So why is it that as someone who knows the chances of getting published are very slim, and the chances of getting published and making a living off of writing are even slimmer, that I do this as my primary drive in life? Writing, as any writer could tell you, is like a good relationship worth being in with a person; it is painful sometimes, sometimes you want to leave, but ultimately for every morning and night that person is next to you, and every moment that person raises you to a level of euphoria in life that no one else can match, this is what you came to this world to be and do.

Being published does not mean I am a writer, it means I wrote something and it was published. Sitting down every day at my desk with my spiral notebook in front of me and my pen in hand makes me just as much a writer as Stephen King or John Irving. Bill Clinton wrote a book and it was published, but I would not consider him a writer, but a politician.

If you want to be a writer, no matter your age, just accept the fact that having a day job is just so you can afford to write. I have.