Yes, they do. Writers have ideas that they share.
BUT – big BUT – having ideas doesn’t make you a writer. Having flour in the cupboard doesn’t make you a baker. To be considered a baker you have to bake, bake often and bake well.
It’s the same with writing. Until you can express those ideas strongly and vividly on paper or on line, you can’t call yourself a writer. No matter how strongly you feel or how important you think the message is, until you communicate it clearly you are just another person who likes to sound off about something.
If you feel that the world is going rapidly to hell, you might want to refine your ideas. Pinpoint one specific aspect of ‘going to hell’ and do some research. Why is this happening? What are the options for dealing with it? The pros and cons of each one.
If you think the government of your city or country is doing things all wrong pick one error you think they are making and research it. Offer suggestions about how it could be done better. Now you have the basis for a letter to the editor or maybe even an op-ed piece.
You risk getting feedback that gives an opposing point of view, or finding that others think you are just plain wrong. That’s a risk that writers take. Are you up for it? If not, just keep chuntering on to anyone who will listen, but don’t think of yourself as a writer.
Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as having ideas; it’s more like insights. You watch people’s behaviours and you make connections in your mind. You begin to think in terms of ‘what if?’ Those insights are the beginning of stories, but until you get them on paper you are not a writer.
Whether you are writing fact, opinion or fiction you risk rejection when you send your work out for publication. Actually, it isn’t a risk, it’s pretty much a certainty. There are more writers than there is space in publications. You have to keep getting better at what you do to have a chance to get your work in front of the public.
But when you do, and you have been paid for it, then you can call yourself ‘a published writer’. And that is sweet!
