When does a writer become a Writer?

I never considered myself a Writer, although I always received positive feedback in school about my writing. I crafted many well-written memos and press releases during my work life and even wrote entire procedure manuals that were clear enough to be followed by teenaged employees. Despite all my written output, at no point would I ever have identified myself as a Writer.

In a meeting a few days ago with a group of other Writers, this topic of writers' identity came up. Many people are interested in writing and may even have dabbled in the occasional short story or essay, but would never consider "writer" as part of their identities. What gives a person permission to cross over to that hallowed territory?

For me, it was writing classes. I had an idea for a novel for at least 10 years. Someday, I thought, I would get around to writing it. At some point I realized that "someday" might never come. I needed to take action and at least see if I could do it. I signed up for a fiction writing class in Charlottesville and began working on my first chapter. After that class was over, I signed up for another, then another. When the classes I had been taking were no longer being offered, I contacted other people I had met in the process and invited them to form a critique group with me. That group still meets after three years.

At what point did I start to consider myself a Writer? Probably after the second or third class. Having created pages of a manuscript forced me to take my project seriously. I had set out to write a particular story, and somewhere along the way became a Writer.

If you live in the Charlottesville area and have ever thought about writing fiction, I highly recommend taking a beginning writing class. No coincidence, but I happen to be affiliated with a new non-profit in town that is offering just such a class starting June 24. Check out Gina Welch's Beginning Fiction Writing class at WriterHouse.