Writing Everyday

I have an acquaintance who, whenever anyone says they are a writer, he says, "Oh, yeah, do you write everyday?" Like he's challenging you--which he is. He thinks that if you don't write everyday you're not a writer. I think it's a great idea to write everyday, but the questions is what? I write emails everyday. I write responses to instant messages. I write texts. I pretty sure my friend wouldn't classify me as a writer. The last time I talked to him I told him about going to grad school and writing and he said, "Oh yeah, do you write everyday?" even though he's asked me that three times before in the last few years. I told him that I don't write everyday but that I think about writing everyday. I don't just think about the act of it but I think about things to write about. I'm always thinking about things to write about, constantly, but it's the act of writing that is the hard part. Anne Lammott said that writing is just holding the lantern for your characters that are digging the hole. My characters are in the dark most of the time.

I think that I find my friend's question so annoying because he's not a writer. He makes no claim to be one, nor has he ever attempted to write anything since college, that I know of. I think he just doesn't get it. I mean, even if I wrote every single day, would I then be a writer? Even if I never published anything, ever? I think he asks the question because he knows people will say no. No, they don't write everyday, and then he's caught them, he's made them admit that they really aren't what they presume to be.

He's a real asshole.