Write: Verb, not Noun

If there is one thing that you should remember as a writer, it's this: writers write.

Don't go around telling people that you're a writer, preen your feathers as you bask in their praise, and then go home and do nothing. You have no right to call yourself a writer unless you: 1) constantly practice your craft and work on improving it and 2) write.

You must therefore refrain from calling yourself a writer if you have one or more of the following flaws: 1) your grammar needs a sledgehammer, electric drill, and bulldozer to be corrected until your work is good enough to be read (and understood), 2) you are unwilling to have your grammar and syntax corrected, 3) you are unwilling to edit your work, 4) you are unwilling to do research for your work, 5) you are unwilling to be criticized, and 6) you just don't write.

Remember, you have a profession as well as a hobby on your hands. It will be exciting at times, and then draining at others. Make your fellow writers proud of you by actually writing, and writing well. If you only end up giving writers a bad name, then please, put your pen down, or set your computer aside, and let the rest of us live (and write) in peace.

If you do write, however, and live up to the demands of your profession, then keep up the good work!