At the numerous cocktail parties I attend (hehe, yeah, right) I’m oft asked what I do for a living.  And though it still sounds a little funny passing my lips, my response is, “I’m a writer.”  Invariably the next question is, “What do you write?”  At which point I blather on about freelancing, blogs, web content, yadda-yadda-yadda.  Polite smiles all around, maybe a, “That’s nice.”  Soon followed by semi-hasty departures sung to the tune of, “I’m going to go find someone interesting to talk to.”

Consider for a moment what the conversation would be like if my initial response had been, “I’m an author.”  Wow.  That’s got a different ring to it.  It conjures up visions of secluded cabins, late night furious writing sessions, tweed sportcoats with supple leather elbow patches and straight stemmed pipes.

Dictionary.com sez:

Writer:

1. a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., esp. as an occupation or profession
2. a clerk, scribe, or the like
3. a person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing

Author:

1. a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist
2. the maker of anything; creator; originator
3. the literary production or productions of a writer

The difference between the two is subtle, but it’s there.

In my mind, you are an author when you complete a project of non-fiction or fiction, package it and put it out for the world to see.  Technically, I guess using that philosophy you could say that when you complete a blog post you could call your self an author.  But is that genuine and accurate?  I don’t really think it is.  So let me shape the definition a bit more:  You are an author when you complete a book.  There, how’s that?  Does that sit a little better? Or does it kinda make you mad?

The point is that in the eyes of the general populous, a writer is different from an author and the two are on completely different levels.  I think that to some extent, it’s picking nits, but remember that (and I hate this, even though it’s true) reality is not what matters – it’s people’s perception of reality that is the ultimate criteria.

So if you write web content, and have two or three half finished novels in the works and you’ve entered a short story into a contest, would you feel comfortable calling yourself an author?  Put yourself into the cocktail party scenario.  Imagine giving the, “I’m an author” response.  How does that feel?  Would you handle any follow up questions any differently than you would if you said you were a writer?

I think this is a very interesting topic to consider.  I’m willing to bet that opinions on this are impassioned and varied.

Let the debate begin!