To Be Called An Author…

Susan McCormick

It means when they search my computer and find “how to pith someone without it showing up on an autopsy,” they will chalk it up to my being an author and not to true criminal intent.

Jayne Ormerod

It means so much. It means my father is proud of me (he’d always dreamed of being an author himself but passed away before he could fulfill that dream.) It means I am proud of myself because actually writing a full story that someone reads is a heck of a life accomplishment. And it makes my family proud. “Author” is a label only a few people can claim. Many people aspire to write a book but never get around to it.

Teresa Inge

It’s an honor to be an author. When I first started writing books, people would call me an author, but I never referred to myself in that term. I felt that I didn’t deserve to say that since I was just starting out. It was a lot of pressure I put on myself. Now, with being a contributor in several books, it’s a lot of responsibility to be a mystery author with writing, marketing, and promoting myself.

Victoria Tait

It’s less about being called an author and more about finding readers who enjoy my books

Kate Parker

If you were friends with a character in this book, what kinds of things would you do together?

During the period of this book, winter 1939-1940, there wasn’t much to do around Bletchley. During other seasons, yes, but not in the bitter cold. They needed to go to London for any entertainment.

Maria Hudgins

It reminds me that I have a responsibility to be true to myself as well as true to my readers.

Heather Weidner

I’ve been writing for a long time, but I never really thought of myself as an author until that first box of books arrived with my name on it. It was a long time in the making.

D.M. Barr

There is nothing I am prouder of, other than raising my two children. I have revered authors since I’ve been able to read. To be counted among them is an honor. I am truly an author groupie.

Ellen Buttler

It’s a job. One that I enjoy doing, but I think other people get far more excited about it than I do

Vicki Delany

If you like what you’ve written and people enjoy what you’ve written.

Joanna Campbell Slan

I never think about that term. Not really. All I care about is my readers and how they feel about what I do. I work every day to improve my skills and focus on creative work that will have a positive impact on people’s lives. In short, the title “author” doesn’t matter. Not to me, at least. I just want to make a difference in this world with what I love doing. Folks can call me whatever they like.

Kari Bovee 

This is a great question. For me, doing something I love while providing entertainment, inspiration, and education for others is a definite measure of success. I’ve pondered the question of ‘why am I doing this?’ for several years and the answer always comes back to connection. I love making a connection with the people who enjoy my books. It’s like meeting someone for the first time and finding out you have so many things in common. I love knowing that I’ve touched someone in a positive way and have given them some enjoyment. 

DiAnn Mills

A calling, honor, privilege, and responsibility to all my readers

Karen Randau

I’ve been writing my whole life, but writing books has been more challenging for a lot of reasons—including the need to get inside people’s heads to bring them to life on the page. The fact that I can do that and create books that people like means a lot to me.

Patrick Kelly 

I’ve always enjoyed writing, so the title of author sounds good to my ears; however, in simple terms, it means only that I write novels for the purpose of entertaining readers.

Gabby Allan

It means I get to share my worlds with people I might never meet, but somewhere we’re connecting. It also means that I get to live out dream jobs that I might never be qualified for but I can definitely tell about them in stories.

Gloria Oliver 

Being called an author tells me that people realize I am serious about the
craft of telling stories.

Colleen J. Shogan

I suppose it gives me a
great sense of accomplishment.

Mary Angela 

That’s a good question. It
means I’ve dedicated my career to writing and publishing.

Kaia Alexander 

I always wanted to write books. Now I’m working on screenplays as well. I hope it just means I get to write and publish books all my life! I have a YA novel completed, and I’m starting on a new one later this year.

My writing is like a third lung; I need it to live. Writing is something I need to do, not a luxury. The art moves me, and I listen, and inscribe…

Jodi Rath 

Everything.

I was a kid playing “magazine” instead of house. My idea of a fun afternoon was spending it in my room by myself (I’m an only child) with my dolls and stuffed animals—they were my staff. I took my mom’s old magazines, cut things out, pasted them back together the way I wanted, marked things up in red—told my Care Bears to rewrite it! My Cabbage Patch Kids were probably my best editors—I do think my Strawberry Shortcake doll got most improved with her writing chops. But my Pound Puppies—they could be lazy at times. I may have even fired one of them—but then they were so cute, I hired them back.

CJ Daly

It means that I’m living out my dream

Jodi Linton

That I am doing exactly what I told my parents I wanted to be when I grew up.

Paty Jager 

Wow, great question! I LOVED reading and books growing up. I couldn’t imagine how people came up with such wonderful stories. And now, I come up with stories (this is #51) that are published, and readers enjoy the books. I feel like I’ve come full circle and am doing what I’m meant to do. Saying I’m an author, acknowledging I wrote a book…that is the best feeling in the world.

Cheryl Hollon

I love being known for
creating stories that readers find enjoyable, both as a distraction and
sometimes as a comfort.

Diane Bator

Even as I write more books, I always find it a thrill to think of myself as an author. For so long, I’ve only ever said “I write books.” With 11 novels published and a lot more social media presence, I’m starting to feel more like an author. That I actually know a little something about writing.

Kelley Kaye 

I don’t know how to be anything else, really. It’s something I am compelled to do, and so if you want to call me that, great! If you don’t want to, that’s okay too—variety is the spice of life, you know? Call me what you will, just don’t call me late to dinner!

Jessica Berg

Anyone who writes is an author. For too many years, I felt uncomfortable calling myself “author” as I had only written and self-published one book. Even now, after three more books, all contracted with a publisher, I look at the great ones, the household author names, and wonder if I can share that title with them. And, of course, the answer is YES, I can, and so can anyone who writes. The word “author” isn’t just reserved for best sellers or famous writers; that word is meant for anyone who puts the proverbial pen to paper and creates worlds and universes with words…

Josalyn McAllister

I’ve always loved to write but when I was in sixth grade I had a teacher who really encouraged me. She told me “I know you’ll be published one day.” Like it was some kind of certainty or fate. Since then I’ve wanted nothing more than to fulfill her prophecy. I’m so glad that I’ve been able to do that.

Celia  

Not a lot until someone tells me how much they enjoyed one of my stories. Then I feel a sense of happiness and pride

T. C. LoTempio

 It’s a validation of everything I’ve worked for my whole life.  I’ve always wanted to write ever since I read my first Nancy Drew mystery.  I got away from it for a while, when I was married my husband forbade me to write.  I got back into it late in life and I was first published by Berkley at age 59.  So never give up. If you work hard enough it can happen.

John Darryl Winston

Being an author means that all lovers of the written word trust me to transcribe stories that I receive from the universe…or God. That means I better do my best or that privilege will be taken from me never to be returned again. I know…a bit dramatic but true nonetheless. It means for a moment in time, I get to be a hero or villain, an athlete or world leader, a man, woman, or life form from another world. I can be anything or nothing. I just have to make you believe me.

Ammar Habib

Being an author means many things. You’re a world-builder. An action hero. A cowboy. A wizard. You’re whatever you want to be. As an author, you live vicariously through your characters (I sometimes even find myself thinking about them!). Therefore, you’re a wearer of many hats, and get to keep a piece of each character with you long after you’ve written the story. 

ELLIE CAMPBELL 

 …if at the end of the day, you’ve written something you’re happy with and seen it through to the end. And feel you’ve managed to do what you set out to do. Of course we all go through ups and downs and nothing is as perfect on page as it is in your head. You love what you just wrote, you look at it a second time and you hate it, you’re exhilarated, then you’re in despair. Then you re-read the thing in a year’s time and are amazed those words came from you. 

ReGina Welling

Reading has been such a huge part of my life that it has always been a goal of mine to write books. Now that I am, it feels like a dream come true and that I’m doing what I was meant to do.

Camille Minichino

I’m the kind of author who requires readers! When even one person tells me she enjoyed one of my books, or learned something from it, I consider myself successful.

Richard Audry 

I like creating worlds and populating those worlds with characters and stories that people can enjoy. I hope that readers can imagine my stories are almost real.

Carlene O’Connor

 It means that I am doing what I love for a living, but also working very hard at it. It means there are a lot of people who think all authors are on book tours and featured prominently in airports, and on the bestseller lists, when in truth there are a lot of us toiling away under the radar, creating and publishing stories, just making our living without a lot of fanfare…

Joshua Smith

It means a great deal to me. What does an author do? What does an author provide to the world? Books are very valuable and sought after. I feel like a pretty cool fellow that’s for sure.

Maggie Toussaint

I love being a published author. The biggest thrill for me wasn’t having books in stores. It was having books in libraries, which played such a formative role in my early life. Being an author sure keeps me busy. It is a balancing act to keep writing new books, while editing the ones in the publication chain and marketing the earlier releases. But it’s one heck of a ride!

Lori Robbins

There’s a real sense of accomplishment in that title. Everyone has an important story to tell, and being able to put those ideas into a full-length novel is a dream come true.

Rita Moreau

My identity. I worked many
years in a successful career. Needed something to do after I retired.

Tricia L. Sanders

I love the sound of that word. People are reading stories I’ve created. It means a lot to earn the trust of someone who is willing to invest their time and energy into reading things I’ve written.

Erin Lynn

For me it means validating a lifelong dream, but even more so it means I have something incredible in common with my mom.

Doug Oudin

To be called an author gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment at having succeeded in fulfilling a goal which I never dreamed I might reach at a younger age; to actually publish a book

ART ROSCH

 I write with emotions that may lie buried deep within the psyche.  It’s my way of bringing to light the emotions that the reader may have experienced without knowing it.  I would feel successful if readers responded to me about their emotional experiences in reading my work.

Maria DiRico

I’ve been a playwright, freelance journalist, television writer-producer, but being called author is the highest honor of all.

Frankie Bow 

People have different ideas about what it means to be a writer versus an author, and which is better… I’m just happy that I have the opportunity to write entertaining stories, and share them with other people.

Barbara howard

It means I am living out a dream that I’ve had from childhood and can inspire others to pursue theirs.

Avery Daniels

To go through not only writing a novel and editing it, but to go through the publishing and the marketing.  The whole ball of shebang. 

Lena Gregory

It’s so thrilling to me to be called an author. I’ve loved to read ever since I was young, and I’ve always wanted to write. Since I didn’t get to start until I was older, it was something I never thought I’d accomplish. So, being an author means the world to me.

Jamie Schulz

Everything! I’ve always wanted to be an author and have worked for it since I was very young. I am quite thankful for technology and the ability to self-publish. Authors don’t make a lot of money, unless you’re someone like Nora Roberts or Stephen King. But having the ability to publish your own work, makes it possible to be independent and make a better profit. It is much harder, however, if you don’t have a following already, but I don’t mind the work. I love to write. Being a profitable author is my ultimate goal.

Linda O. Johnston

I love being called an author, since I am one!  My first published fiction was a short story that was published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Award for best first mystery short story of the year.  I’ve kept writing fiction since then, and it’s fun!

Cathy Ace 

It means I’m one of the luckiest people in the world! Before I started writing the Cait Morgan Mysteries I’d seen nine textbooks I’d written on the shelves of bookstores – but nothing beats the buzz of creating fiction.

Elizabeth Pantley

I love having the privilege and opportunity to touch people’s lives. Whether it’s providing parenting advice or giving someone an adventurous story to escape to, it’s an honor to be invited into people’s lives.

Diane Mae Robinson

I am proud and honored to be called an author, mostly because my road to becoming a published author was such a long and hard road. After several years of college to learn the crafts of journalism, grammar, short story writing, and finally branching off into children’s literature…

Victoria Hamilton

The short answer is… everything. It was the dream of my life (since I was 12 years old
and started reading Agatha Christie mysteries) to become a writer, but I didn’t think it
was possible for most of my life. I wish I had gotten to it earlier, but it felt out of reach.
So to have achieved it feels… wonderful.

Tracey Drew

It’s a big part of who I am, yet some days I still can’t believe I’ve actually written so many books!

Bobbi Schemerhorn

For me being an author means that I get to live my dream of creating for a living. To be called an author makes my heart happy because it means that others are enjoying what I’m creating. It’s one thing to call yourself an author, but it brings in that whole new meaning of “making it” when someone else calls you it

Eloise Brightly 

I grew up reading every day. I was the kid that hid under the covers with a flashlight after bedtime so I could read more. I love delving into a new story, learning about the places and people, and being excited to crack open a new story. Being able to create worlds and bring joy to others is amazing.