Who gets to decide if you are an artist?

Elizabeth Gilbert

This question hits me right between the eyes. It makes me think about the tension between hobby and profession. I makes me think about who gets to ultimately answer that question. Do we answer it for ourselves or let others have that sacred power? What is the consequence of that label on our creative process? Are we silenced or emboldened? What does it mean to call myself a writer? What is my writer’s responsibility to myself today, to the little girl who would spend hours writing as a child, to my family and others who told me I could be whatever I wanted to be, to a future that ?

I am a writer and here’s why.

I am a writer because I write every day.

I am a writer because I read, listen, and pay attention.

I am a writer because I love words, stories, and people.

I am a writer because writing is the thing I must do.

I am a writer because writing is where I think.

I am a writer because that is where I share beauty, joy, and awe.

I am a writer because that is where I connect with others.

I am a writer because that is where I hear my voice most clearly.

I am a writer because I called myself a writer before I learned criticism, doubt, and fear.

I am a writer because when I write I am in the arena.

I am a writer because I cry when I know I am doing it right.

Leap Into the Fire, an episode Elizabeth Gilbert’s podcast Magic Lessons.