My Twitter handle is WannaBeWriter06. I get asked about it often enough that I thought I'd write a post about it. After all, I am a published writer, I'm a member of two professional writing organizations, and I have been paid pro rates for writing.
So how am I a "wannabe writer"?
To be perfectly honest, my preferred user handle had already been taken. When I tried many, many variations on a theme, they were also taken. So, in a fit of frustration (and because I was planning to use Twitter for author / DBA networking), I chose WannaBeWriter06 and found it was free.
So why don't I change the handle to my name? I suppose I could, but the moniker has grown on me. Not only that, but it has proven itself as a source of writing inspiration. As they say in academia, "publish or die." A writer is only as good as her last work. Despite my recent chain of successes, my body of work is still quite small. I need something to focus me, to remind me I have not yet reached my goal and that I still have a ways to go. My current goal is to get a novel published.
I had a goal before. It was to get published. Published period. And I did. Then I had a three year dry spell where the few short pieces I had written went nowhere and I wasn't writing very much. So, I had another goal, "get published again." In 2007, it happened. I got an antho invite and got another short story published. And went dry again until 2008.
"Get published again" is a rather ambiguous goal, so last year I set my sights higher. I am a wannabe writer until I get my novel published. Then I will change my goal to "get a second novel published." And so it will go, with each success pushing me to change my goal and aim higher. So, am I a writer? In other people's eyes, maybe. But in my eyes, I still want and until the day I can't come up with any more writing goals, I will always be a "wannabe writer." My Twitter handle is my goad, my reminder that I am not yet finished wanting to be a writer.
What about you? What daily reminders do you keep around to focus and inspire you?
