The stories and poems in my old journals are unfinished. They're like letters I seal in an envelope and hesitate to stick a stamp on. They're unfinished because I didn't have the commitment to finish them. In the past, I made excuses not to finish what I've begun writing: family problems, studies, a paying job, friends. Then I'd lose the writing moment. Then I'd blame whatever excuse I've come up with. The excuses became the hindrances to my writing.

Now I realize they aren't hindrances at all. Everything life throws at me aren't writing blocks. They're life's filling instead; that extra vinegar I add to my salad so that when I dig in, I can taste, enjoy and savor my salad.

Now, when I say, "I'm a writer," I really am a writer. Because I write. Because I make a commitment to finish what I start writing. Never mind if I'm having a bad hair day. Never mind if that writing greatness excludes the title of "best selling author." Anything I finish writing makes me a writer.

This is what makes every writer a writer: Being able to write "Fin is" or "#30" with true finality each time, knowing that everything has been poured out and there is nothing more to bleed.

Every time I start to write something, I become the stamp. It is my seal, it is my sign. When I get to the last word of this essay, it will bear my stamp.

I am a stamp. Ergo, I AM a writer.