Is everyone an author?

Before reading the chapter, I would have said no to the idea that everyone is a writer. Just like the stereotype mentioned, I thought writers were limited to Shakespeare and James Patterson: people who brainstorm ideas to write about, but only truly became writers because and when they were published. As an aspiring writer myself, I was curious to see why the book said everyone is a writer. And they made some good points: it is still about getting published, but the published piece doesn't have to be in print. With sites such as Wattpad and various places to blog, all of a person's writing is saved to their name. One click of a button, and anyone's writing is accessible to billions of people. Along with the invention of e-readers, you can now publish your books for free to Amazon and Barnes and Nobles’s separate online books sections. The internet is such a quick place to get information to and from, there is no way to logically prove a person is not a writer if they post on the internet.

Another specific point they made that I found myself interested in was that even if you never had the intention of becoming a writer and posting anything that was published, it could still happen. The example they used in the textbook was the writer born in Afghanistan, Tamim Ansary. He wrote an email about the awful stereotypes surrounding his people after 9/11, and with everyone forwarding the email to their friends, it went global in days. Not only is everyone a writer, but I don’t think it’s optional anymore. People write to communicate, and anything you write can be published.