As I was once again frustrated that I didn’t have time to do the writing I had hoped for, I began to wonder, “What makes a person a writer as opposed to something else?”

It is an interesting question. If we look at motive behind the things people write, we find many different motives for individual pieces whether they are essays or poems or stories or scripts. Some do it to make a living. Is that different from those of us that write because we enjoy it?

I know that in many of my past careers, writing was central to the job. It was a way of recording the structure of a project for those constructing it. And, it was a way of explaining the project to those who would use it. Is that the same as a poet writing, describing an emotion or a moment of experience?

I have written thousands of pages of technical documentation and reports. But does that make me a writer? I struggle with poetry? Does that mean I am only partly a writer? I tell stories and even write a few. Does that make be a writer?

Somehow I don’t think that the act of writing is what defines or makes a writer. Is it then the motivation behind the writing? How can we tell. Different people write for different reasons. Some to simply tell a story, entertaining the reader of whatever age. Some want to share some hard gained wisdom with those who follow, making their way a bit easier. Some write to share a feeling or a moment of experience, described in all its glory or its horror. There is no common thread among these motivations.

So what does that leave? It brings me back to the frustration I feel. I want to write. I have ideas. It doesn’t really matter the quality of the ideas, there is a pressure to write. I feel the frustration because life has conspired to take all my time for yet another week. I simply could not find some time to center myself, focus my thoughts, relax, and let the words flow. I have 3 short stories I am trying to start. I have a cookbook to finish. I even have some proposals for camp to produce. Yet, I was unable to work on any of them. I am frustrated.

Or looked at differently, I am driven to write. I have things to express whether they be wisdom or foolishness, I am driven to write them. Maybe I will share some, but the sharing is not the thing (though I certainly think about it).

I think the thing that makes a writer is the drive to write, some might say call to write. It doesn’t have to be for any reason other than the need to express, though other reasons certainly add purpose and something to share that others can understand. Most will not understand the compulsion, yet perhaps it is the key to defining what makes a writer.