Networking

Am I a writer or an author?

I was setting up my new Facebook page this week, and I had some difficulty deciding between the two. Should I be "Milo James Fowler - AUTHOR" or "Milo James Fowler - WRITER"?

I guess I've always considered myself to be a writer, even before I had any of my work published. And now that I've sold some stories, I'm obviously still a writer—because I write. But am I an author?

According to Dictionary.com...

Writer: a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., especially as an occupation or profession

Author: a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work

So maybe the two terms are interchangeable, but it's tough to get over an idea rooted in your mind, isn't it? For as long as I've been able to read, an AUTHOR has been someone who's published BOOKS. Not short stories, and definitely not short stories that have only (so far) appeared online.

When "Captain Quasar" makes his appearance in The Best of Every Day Fiction or "The Second Option" appears in Bards and Sages Quarterly, I may feel differently—seeing my name in PRINT. But for now, I'm just a WRITER. 

> In writing news, I'm wrapping up my W1S1 story this week (a new Coyote Cal tale) for the Pill Hill Press anthology, How the West Was Wicked, and I've had two tweet-tales accepted by Cuento as well as three haiku by Scifaikuest. But they didn't like this one:

gorgeous mutation

watch her spread those wings and fly

mosquito woman

Go figure.