Hello, I'm a Writer.

One thing I have always struggled with is introducing myself to people. I'm just not a people person now that I'm older. I like being around people but I like being on the outside of the action so I can observe things from a safe distance.

Being the center of attention is not pleasant for me. That's why when Alexa Young asked me in the middle of the Q&A section of the reading, "Are you a writer?" the first words out of my mouth were. "No, uh, not really. I mean not professionally anyway."

I felt like a fumbling idiot. What's so hard about admitting to others that I write? I suppose the next question that follows is always the killer--"Oh, really? What do you write? Where can I find your work?"

Uhhhh, in a magazine called Not Hardly in an issue published in the month of Neveruary.

Then you get the look that either tells you to keep going--you can do it! or give it up, kid. I suppose actors and other artists have to deal with the same issues.

Can I still be a writer without professional publishing credits? Of course I can but even I have trouble with giving myself permission to claim that identity. Part of the reason why I think I deny myself that pleasure is because it pushes me to work even harder when I write. Almost like I have to prove myself to myself.

One day, I won't hesitate.