When does a writer become a writer?

Today's post is a link to an article in The Atlantic written by blogger Betsy Morais. First, a snippet and then a link to the full article:

"It's the stuff of dreams: proof that those evenings spent hunched over a desk, typing furiously might, just might, not be in vain; that Paul Giamatti's character from Sideways does not represent an undiscovered middle-aged writer's inevitable fate. Or, as Jenni put it, "It's not because you don't do concerts that you can't play the piano."

In the Alexis Jenni school of thought, a writer may be someone, anyone, with a compulsion to scrawl or the conviction of having something to say. A writer is not defined by his career, but the simple act of writing regularly. And authors who found success through the muck of making ends meet have taken that approach for some time now, in practice at least."

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/when-does-a-writer-become-a-writer/248945/