If you have ever said the phrase, “I used to love to write when I was younger.”

If you have ever been happy for an entire day because of a compliment toward something you wrote.

If you have ever finished an intensive and exhausting writing session just to sit back, look at your work and smile because it’s perfect.

If you have ever had to write something - perhaps for a friend, perhaps for a teacher - and dealt with an extended writer’s block when inspiration “just comes to you.”

If you have ever done any of these things: You are a writer.

In grade school I would write short stories for my parents and be the first one to ask questions when an essay was assigned because I liked the challenge.

It should be noted that I would also challenge my classmates to have “write-offs” with me to see who the better writer was. I’m not saying I was modest, but I was passionate.

Something happens to every writer to make them feel it’s no longer a viable option. Perhaps the following phrases sound familiar: “You won’t make any money doing it,” “not many writers actually become famous,” “you should have a plan B.” What stopped me from writing for so long was the busy-ness of life.

How am I supposed to focus on short stories and perfecting my craft when I am suddenly an adult and I have bills to pay and things to do?

There’s just not enough time.

“I’ll do it one day,” I’d tell myself.

What saved me was college.

I started attending Lehigh Carbon Community College, and as a communication major, I had ample electives to choose from.

I took a journalism course that eventually led me to a creative writing course that led me to a contemporary fiction course that led me to an academic writing course that led me back to journalism that led me … here.

The demands of life suddenly included school, and if I was making time for school, I was making time to write.

I’m not suggesting to go to college to start writing again, and I’m not even suggesting that you will be a professional writer one day if that’s not what you want.

I think some of us truly do find something else to do with our careers and our passion sometimes transforms into admiration, which might be why you are reading this now.

I am suggesting this: a love for writing is eternal, and even if you never do anything with your talent or your passion dwindles away, somewhere inside you know that you are a still writer.