Writer's Fallout Shelter

If you put down your pen, never to write again, and call yourself a "writer," don't be surprised when others label you "delusional" and "pretentious" unless you've produced a significant body of work. Even so, if you are no longer writing and don't intend to pick up that pen ever again, I would argue that "author" fits better than "writer." You would be the "author and former writer."

I may dream of being a doctor. I tend to my sick children, and as often as not, have the skills to make them feel better without having to call in the pros. I diagnose their minor ailments. I have a thermometer and a blood pressure cuff on hand. I dispense medicine and know which to give for fever, which to give for sore throats, which to give for stuffy or runny noses, and which to give for a cough. But does thinking of myself as a doctor make it so? God, I hope not...

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

I agree with you that labels can be silly and limiting. We are more than our labels. They are, however, convenient when someone asks, "What do you do?" as if sleeping, waking, breathing, eating, and taking a.. well, you get the picture... weren't enough. I'm a writer, but the roles I identify most closely with include woman, wife, and mother. These labels are a kind of shorthand to communicate to others what you are and what you do with your time. Silly, they may be - but they are useful, too. And arguing that black is white and blue is brown is simply argumentative.