Claim Your Identity

     Years ago, I learned from many writers' blogs that it was important to call myself a writer, never to shy away from the title that accompanied what I was already doing.

     And so I said, "I am a writer," and went on to write a 42,000 word novella over the course of my freshman and sophomore years of high school. I persistently kept up with The Little Decorator, this labor of love that you are reading right now.

     I started networking with other writers on Twitter and found both academic and professional ways to keep growing in my writing skills...because calling myself a writer inspired the way I intentionally pursued my craft.

     Now, in college, the landscape has changed. I'm so longer so very active on Twitter, and I haven't participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for many years. Blog posts are less frequent, and my writing is rarely for fun.

     But I'm an English major at Mississippi College now, and I work in the MC Writing Center as a writing tutor. I also edit the MC Writing Center blog, both writing my own posts and gathering posts from other creative people.

     I may not be writing poetry in my free time, but I'm learning firsthand research skills and analysis skills. I'm dissecting my own writing with sentence diagramming, and I'm collaborating creatively with my wonderful peers.

     The bottom line? Madeline needs to stop worrying about whether or not she's a writer. She needs to claim her title once more. Then she can continue to pursue her main hustles: writing and editing. One day, this path may even take her to be a boss editor lady in New York City.

~

     What is the title that you are too terrified to claim? It may be floating on the surface of who you are, just waiting for you to embrace it fully.

     If I hadn't picked up my title, you wouldn't be reading this.

     Just embracing your title could be the catalyst for change you need.

~Madeline