Writers, Photographers and the likes

Just wondering: When might one be allowed to call oneself a writer?

Yes, I know! I am still on this career thing.

When my secretary job changed a bit recently and brought me back to my computing science roots for a moment, I thought: 'Wow, that is great! I might even be able to make a mini-career out of it.' But apparently there are reasons why I didn't do so 20 years ago, the main one being: It's just not for me! And it's not only the technical skill set one needs to have and to improve, it's the environment those sort of jobs take place in. It is not really fun fighting the techie guys over nitty-gritty bits on a daily basis.

That decided, the focus is back on writing. Love it, am at my happiest, ... and now? How would I introduce myself?

'I am Rika, housewife, part time secretary and hobby writer'... I don't like the word hobby in it...

So, when is one to be called: 'A writer'?

Do writers have degrees? Photographers are different. I have several photographer friends and I noticed that they get introduced by others as photographers. As soon as they have an online gallery, and taking photos is called 'photo shoot' they are allowed to carry the label. Am I jealous? YES! for crying out loud!

The more that photos are pretty while articles all look a bit the same. It's hard to get people interested. That's why I was so thrilled when Rachel-Anaconda asked me to write an article about her. I loved it, it felt like coming home!

So maybe I will be a proper writer, when I get paid for my first article, or when I get printed, ... dunno, we'll see. Because one thing is for sure: The two month break this summer of not writing was a really, really dull time in my life. Not gonna happen again!

Guess I found my passion and apparently I knew this about two years ago already, just had forgotten about it. Maybe I am a writer already and just don't know it yet!