Qualification, schmolification. I can drive that rocket! Jus’ let me behind the wheel.
When I finished writing my first novel in 2004, I was hesitant to call myself a novelist. The way I saw it, the only thing that qualified me was the fact that I’d written 50,000 on the same subject. That something had a beginning, a middle, and an end; it had characters and settings and a climax. But it wasn’t ready to be published, and that’s what I thought qualified a person to be a novelist.
Then I wrote another book in 2006, and I started warming up to the idea that maybe I was a novelist, even though nothing had seen print. But still, I hadn’t taken any writing courses. I didn’t know if what I’d written was any good.
It would take almost a decade before I took a writing course, just to find out that I actually already knew what I was doing, for the most part. By then I’d started yet another novel and I was well on my way to calling myself a novelist.
And now… I’m still on the fence. None of my novels have seen print yet. Not one of the five I’ve finished, nor the three I’ve begun writing. But that tells me something. I see a pattern here. Do you?
I can’t stop writing novels. It’s how I pass my time. It’s part of who I am. I’m miserable when I’m not writing something. It’s not an urge, it’s a compulsion. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that that is what qualifies me to be a novelist. I’m a novelist because writing them is in my blood.
So the next time someone asks me if I’m a writer, I’ll say yes, in fact, I’m a novelist. I write novels. They may be good, they may be bad, they may be unpublishable, but that’s okay. Because I do it for me. I do it because I don’t have a choice.
***
Whether or not I’m a qualified novelist, I’m definitely a qualified novelettist! I have an A to Z Challenge-inspired novelette called “All Good Stories,” available for only 99¢ on Kindle and Kobo. It’s a romantic comedy about two best friends who belong together – Xavier knows it, but Jupiter has her eye on another guy: a shady character named Bob.
“A delightful read!!” ~ Cheryl Lynn Roberts, 4 stars, Amazon Canada review
“A short funny tale of two friends” ~ Ritu, 4 stars, Amazon UK review
“Quirky and charming.” ~ Bobby Underwood, #11 top reviewers on Goodreads – 5 stars
Click the picture to find it on Kindle, or get it on Kobo here: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/all-good-stories
April 23, 2017 at 11:51 am
You certainly are a novelist, Linda! 🙂
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April 21, 2017 at 10:23 pm
Absolutely you are. I’ve had some people poo-poo my Facebook Writer page, cause it’s all, “I write. It’s what I do. It’s who I am,” and they think it sounds pretentious.
But I write. I am a writer. And you, Linda, you are too. A novelist at that! 🙂
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April 21, 2017 at 10:27 pm
Thanks, Joey. 🙂 I can attest to the fact that you are a writer. And a great one at that. 🙂
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April 21, 2017 at 10:31 pm
So kind, thanks 🙂
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April 21, 2017 at 9:54 am
When I ran my cabinet shop, people would often ask me where I learned woodworking. I told them that my father taught me, I spent time in shop class but I was mostly self-taught. There was always a look that conveyed “oh, so you’re not really a woodworker.” I am, and you are a writer. End of story.
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April 21, 2017 at 10:25 pm
Thanks for this, Dan. I agree: where we’re taught and how we’re taught is neither hear nor there. The point is that we learned. 🙂
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April 22, 2017 at 6:45 am
And we are capable of continuing to learn. A lot of people forget that.
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April 21, 2017 at 4:48 am
A post that will chime with oh so many. But I concur with previous comments, you are a novelist. Me, I’m going no further than dubbing myself a writer – but then I’ve yet to complete the 50,000 words in a single project hurdle.
Bunny and the Bloke
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April 21, 2017 at 10:22 pm
Keep at it, if that’s your goal. 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by!
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April 21, 2017 at 1:51 am
I’m in your shoes with that as well! My first book I self published, and it most definitely wasn’t ready for print. Live and learn. But, you are definitely a novelist. There’s nothing in the description of that that says you HAVE to be published by a big publishing company in order to qualify. If you wrote a novel then you wrote a novel. That’s what makes you a novelist. Keep it up!!! Self publish! That’s the way to go. Traditional publishing is in turmoil right now. Take complete control of your work anyway, it’s YOUR WORK. You own it.
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April 21, 2017 at 10:20 pm
I agree, self-publishing is the way to go these days. Thanks for the encouragement, Matt. 😀
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April 21, 2017 at 1:35 am
You are indeed a novelist!!!
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April 21, 2017 at 10:18 pm
Thank you, Ritu. 🙂
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April 22, 2017 at 3:29 am
Mwah!
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