The most satisfying definition of “writer” on Dictionary.com reads, “a person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc. to writing.” But doesn’t everyone do that? Whether writing a paper for class or in a journal, everyone seems to write something. So why do some of us identify ourselves as writers, while most people don’t?

So many of us who write, whether recreationally, professionally, or somewhere in between, do so as it is the best way we can express ourselves. Speaking is hard; coming up with just the right word at just the right moment with only a few seconds to think about it rarely produces anything coherent. Speaking your opinion in general can be rather daunting. Many people can do it well, but I know I write to give myself time and deliberation before letting other people hear me.

As a result, I think us writers put a lot of ourselves into our writing rather than anywhere else. Communication is a difficult endeavor, but writing is concrete and we can say what we mean with some degree of confidence.

But this means that every time we give someone a piece that we write we are also presenting them with a piece of ourselves. Whether that piece be small or large, significant or trivial, some piece of ourselves goes into our writing and in our efforts to write well, it is often an important piece.

And rejection is brutal.

Rejection is not merely, “Oh, this is no good.” Rejection is silence. Rejection is critique. Rejection is seeing someone else succeed where you did not.

All of this is necessary. It is necessary in life and it is necessary to improve. But it doesn’t make the hurt any less real.

So I guess this is just to recognize that hurt, recognize the rejection that comes with the myriad of things we write before something good finally comes from it all. Yes, it hurts. Yes, there will be tears. Yes, those of us who call ourselves writers take it personally. And yes, we will still write and still put ourselves on the line for rejection.

Because we are writers. And we are still trying to figure out what that means.