You know, if I were truly a violent person, I might have to smack you.

You *are* a writer.

That you have been paid *ANYTHING* at all, whether it's "not much" or not, is merely validation.

You gotta get over yourself.

Hey. I /did/ stop and correct myself, didn't you see? ;) I've just noticed that sometimes if you tell civilians (i.e., nonwriters) that you're a writer, the next words out of their mouths is "What have you written?" meaning "What's published?" So I end up qualifying to try and head off that question.

I'm trying to stop though, I swear. ;)

A paraphrase from a story by fantasy author Peter S. Beagle: "Kings need bards, but bards don't need kings."

Publishers need authors to be publishers. Authors can author without ever once meeting a publisher.

You don't need validation ~

- emc