Cuz I am, whatever you say I am?

Creative writing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember.  Back in the 5^th grade, I was in a rap group and wrote lyrics that ranged from the dance floor to letting the world know that I was “sharper than a razor blade”.  In middle school, I wrote a few short stories.  I found my love for poetry in High School.  There were times I would be on a bus and an idea would hit me and I would have to write a poem on a receipt until I got home to transcribe it to my notebook.  In college, I still wrote poetry but my piece de resistance was a book that I wrote detailing a public protest that I staged on campus – one of my proudest moments.  Since college, I have written album reviews for a Hip-Hop website, co-founded a Hip-Hop blog, Past The Margin, kept a journal of my journey as an entrepreneur and of course, Straight from the Pen.  Despite all of that, I hesitate to refer to myself as a writer. 

Friends have encouraged me to embrace the title but something seems wrong about it.  For as long as I can remember, everyone that I’ve considered a writer has their work published.  This implies that someone had to read, edit and deem it good enough to put money behind its release.  The validation of publishing added with some level of formal study of the craft, warrants that title.  The Internet changed all of that.  With the advent of blogs and social networking, people have been able to skip a step when it comes to sharing their words with the world.  No longer do you need a publisher’s blessing, all you have to do is write, click and it’s out there.  This expedited process almost feels like cheating and calling myself a writer feels disingenuous and possibly a discredit to all of those who have gone through the many sacrifices and obstacles to get something published.

Having said all of that, I am truly grateful that I have readers.  Writing this blog is a combination of arrogance and vulnerability that’s constantly in limbo.  Arrogance for the fact that I already assume you will enjoy what I have to say and vulnerability in the fact that you may reject my writing and possibly my intelligence and sensibility.  However, in this moment, all I have is humility because with literally millions of other options on the Internet, you’ve chosen to take time out of your day to hear what I have to say.  Although I never set any expectations for readership, seeing the “likes” on Facebook and reading your comments makes this so fulfilling. 

The internet may have changed what “publishing” means and perhaps even redefined what a “writer” is, but I’ll still reserve my amateur status until my first book is available at Barnes and Noble.  But the support that I’ve received over these last 100 posts is tells me that I must be doing something right.  I will continue to try my best to keep improving and give you something good to read.  Who knows, maybe one day I can officially add writer to my resume.

Thank you.