L.I.T.E.R.A.L. #4: What will make you truly feel that you’ve made it as a writer?

L.I.T.E.R.A.L. is a weekly blog meme for authors hosted at Indie Books. We created it to serve as a support group for participants of the Author at Once workshops, but we welcome all writers (from anywhere in the world) who’d like to weigh in on the topics! 

Here’s our L.I.T.E.R.A.L. topic for the week of 19-25 November 2012:

“What will make you truly feel that you’ve made it as a writer? Seeing your byline? Holding the book in your hands? Seeing it climb up the charts? Your first book launch? What will finally get you to tell people that yes, you are a writer?”

There was this moment, in June 2009, when I first saw my book on an actual bookstore shelf.

But soon that wasn't enough, still didn't call myself a writer, or felt like one. I felt that I needed another moment to arrive, maybe that would make it seem more real. So the next "moment" was when I saw the first review for my book. And then it was my first fan email. And then it was the release of my second book. And so on. It was like I was expecting a change, but it was taking a while.

What I learned since then is that I shouldn't wait until that thing happens before calling myself a "writer." Writers write, so yes, I was doing that, and I guess that's what I always was.

(I just retconned my life there! You can do it too.)

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