Ask HN: Do you find “writer” somewhat pejorative? or is it just me?
I don&#x27;t remember where I picked up this association, but I think, at least in some circles, &quot;writer&quot; seems to imply someone who writes articles for online magazines or any kind of publication in a sort of &quot;lowest common denominator&quot; way (similar to the connotations that come with &quot;blogger&quot; sometimes).<p>Anyone know or heard of this usage? Or am I just making it up?<p>Maybe for this reason&#x2F;bias, I&#x27;ve never felt comfortable calling myself a writer, for fear of being mixed in with this association, like someone who just &quot;writes anything&quot;. I take pride in writing essays and feel aversive about writing articles meant as &quot;content&quot; for general&#x2F;mass consumption (damnit I sound like a douchebag).<p>I know many people who proudly call themselves writers, so I know it&#x27;s not a universal thing. And I know PG calls himself a writer&#x2F;programmer (don&#x27;t remember the exact source, but probably a tweet), which never made sense to me because he strictly writes essays, so I would&#x27;ve thought &quot;essayist&quot; would fit him better.<p>I know I shouldn&#x27;t care about labels or whatever, but I find it hard to shake. I don&#x27;t know, maybe I&#x27;m just thinking too much (sorry this got a lot more personal than I had originally intended). What do you folks think??<p>EDIT: Did some digging, I think this article explains what I&#x27;m talking about:<p>&quot;Are You Really a Writer ... Or Just a Copyist?&quot; https:&#x2F;&#x2F;copyblogger.com&#x2F;writer-or-copyist&#x2F;