I know what you are thinking. Who the hell does this guy think he is? What gives him the right to think he has anything important to say about writing? He hasn't written anything important after all. Nobody is ever going to pay him any money to do it or, for that matter, even ask him to do it for free. He couldn't give his words away if he tried.

All true points. I cannot argue with a single bit of it. Except, well, I disagree with that general view of things. A writer should not be judged by his desire to make money or be popular. Many of the great writers of hundreds of years ago never felt the need to write for the sake of becoming rich. They were never paid to or even asked to write. They just did. They felt compelled to tell a story that would last beyond the moment they told it. But they didn't think about money. Hell, many of the world's greatest writers died broke and unknown in their time. Yet, they wrote. Something drove them to do it and now their stories and ideas live in a time and place that many of them could never consider possible.

Writing doesn't belong to the money makers. It doesn't belong to fame seekers. It belongs to the storytellers. The people that yearn to make magic with the written word are the magicians that earn the title of "writers". It's not a large group by any means. But it is also not a group of exclusion. Anyone can join. Some will fly the moment they try and others might never make it off the ground. But even those that don't fly will look up at the sky and feel the magic of the writer. It's not a feeling that you choose. It chooses you and sometimes even the desire to write well is fulling in itself.

Most writers were not writers, - until they were. They can't tell you when they crossed the line. Some of them still can't tell you that they have because they don't know where the line is, and therefore still not sure if they have crossed it.

I submit that there was never a line. They were writers from the moment they felt that desire to make words that were more. And if you have that desire than you are a writer too. There is no line for you to cross either. Once you come to realize that then your writing will be set free.

Most of you reading this are writers whether you admit it to yourself or not. But that's okay for now. I will admit it for you. You are a writer. You have a desire in you that most people don't have or understand. You are a rare breed. I feel happy for you and sad for you at the same time.

Good luck writers. I hope you are having a great writing day.