Inspiration is a Fickle Mistress

I have been wondering lately if I'm a writer at all. Sure, I can put words together and tell a story, but so can anyone if they have the time and imagination. There's often debate about what makes a writer an author, or when we can call ourselves one of either. I think it's up to us. You know you. No one knows you better than you do (not even that stuffed animal you still have on the shelf from childhood).

I'm not a writer. I don't have the drive and ambition to turn what I do into a brand. There's a whole lot in this world to be inspired by. My voice is just one small vibration in a crowd.

I'm a storyteller. I write what entertains me. This week I've partnered with someone I've been writing with for about six years. Since Sunday, we've written about 35,000 words. Not a single bit of it will ever be seen outside my inbox, and I don't care. It's simply fun to write. I look at my last two projects, and the words of a reader keep ringing in my ears. "You're shooting yourself in the foot." Why? Because my stories are journeys into the bizarre. I laugh as I write, and a lot of it I make up as I go.

And I'm okay with that. I'll keep plodding on, and I'll submit each thing I finish in the hope that some agent out there will 'get' me. But I can't be anything other than I am. Maybe someday I will evolve. In the meantime, I'll sit here and laugh along with the various voices in my head.

I'm not a writer. I'm a storyteller.