AWP Conference 2012

[Gary Kessler]

Gary, I'm not the one who defined the word that way, I'm just quoting friends of mine who do qualify by that definition. I suspect, however, that they'd count your editorial services as part of "earning your living from your writing."

And, how do you classify somebody like Larry Niven? He certainly earns enough from his writing to live on, but he was already a millionaire before he started.

I classify anyone who is making any profit off of writing an author. (I thought I already posted that.)

[Jena Grace]

Thank you, CC.

[Cat]

I cut my teeth on Scene and Structure, Plot, and Beginnings, Middles and Ends from the Writers' digest series.

Lawrence Block (very hands on) and Sol Stein were also very helpful.

Now I find Donald Maass very helpful.

As far as who is or is not a writer/author, I like Vonnegut's definition. He said something like, "Anyone who has ever written a book, even a bad book, is a colleague of mine."

If you write, you're a writer.

If you make money at it, you're a professional.

Chaucer didn't make a penny at it.