I Am a Journalist

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I am a journalist. I write. I don't, at the moment, get much in the way of paid gigs. I do, however, write things. I share my writing. I report stories of local interest, I keep my writing blog updated, I offer my writing and editing services. This makes me a writer and a journalist. The only time I really called myself a journalist (certainly without feeling like a fraud) was when I had an internship with an online magazine for local small businesses. I have called myself a journalist or a writer at other times but not often. Today, I thought about that. I thought about why I don't call myself a journalist. When people ask what my job is, I tell them about whichever menial and meaningless job I happen to be doing to make ends meet, which changes often. If I tell people I am a journalist, they might expect me to tell them about writing for some trendy magazine or well-known newspaper. If I say I mainly write unpaid and on my own website, I wonder if people will think that isn't serious journalism. Well, today, I thought some more. I may take on various jobs as needed but my passion, my profession is writing. I realised that I should be proud of that. I am, so I have been told, a good writer. I have been told I should submit my work to magazines. I have offered work to various publications but, so far, no luck. I write for myself, and I have discovered some other possibilities. I may not have consistent work in the field but I have realised that doesn't stop me from being a journalist. A doctor on hiatus is still a doctor, a mother whose children have left home is still a mother, a painter who sells only one painting is still a painter. My work is good enough. It is OK for me to spend hours working on it. Some people might see my writing as just a hobby but it really isn't. So, I am going to stop treating it as one, and I'm going to proudly proclaim that I am a writer.