A writer is a hard working man with an English accent. He has a pen in one hand and whiskey in the other. He sits in a dark room, with only a lamp to illuminate the paper that will bear his hearts words. He sits on an old, worn out chair that once was green but has faded to brown from the years of cigarette burns and spilled coffee. A cat purrs on the corner of the desk. He lights another cigarette as he struggles to come up with the perfect words for the next line.

When I close my eyes, this is what I imagine a writer is. I see the stereotype, the smoking, drinking, hardworking man at a desk. The stereotype is just that… a stereotype. A writer is anyone who writes. This includes you and I. You don’t have to be a novelist, a poet or a song writer to be under the category of a writer.

I am a writer because it’s not only a way for me to get out what I feel, but to remember it also. It’s a physical remembrance of what happened, what I thought, how I analyzed it, and how I felt. When a memory is recorded, you’ll always be able to revisit it. When something negative happens, it’s important to remember those times too. You have to remember them to know how to over come whatever is next. It’s almost like your own person bible. You can refer to your writings and past experiences whether it is positive or negative and help better yourself as a person.

A person’s writings can tell a lot about them and what they’re going through in their life. Edgar Allan Poe suffered a terrible life filled with darkness, loss, and death. His writings reflect that. Gary Allan, a popular country artist wasn’t born into fame. He had to work his way there. He had just started to make the charts when sadly, his wife committed suicide. He took some time to recover and to deal with the pain of her loss, he wrote more music. Gary came back stronger than ever with his hit “Life ain’t Always Beautiful”. His career skyrocketed.

A writer is you and whatever you decide to write. Your writings can consist of a bare minimum of college essays to get you through or be as extravagant as publishing a series. There is a writer in all of us. I’ve told you what a writer is to me, but what does it mean to you?