Is everyone an author?

So Everyone is an Author is the textbook we were given to study for English 101 at Olympic College. It's a book that, even in it's first few pages, acknowledges that it took a rather "provocative title", which is a statement that I can definitely agree with. But, before we continue, I'm going to just share why I take issue with the title: "All blanket statements are false".

Now you probably see why the two relate, but since I'm getting all preachy, pedantic, and pretentious, I'll explain. What I mean by "All blanket statements are false", is that there will always be an exception to the rule. There are even exceptions to that rule. For instance, you'd be hard pressed to say "Ethnic cleansing is a good thing!" to the public without a vehement response, but even then there's people sick enough to agree with you! Anyways, I think the title could use a rework. It should be more along the lines of Everyone is a Writer or I guess you can hold a pen, good job.

With "Everyone is an Author", there's always going to be people that absolutely lack the sense of rhetoric, that can't write something worth publishing, etc. Most of the cases the book makes in its first few pages, such as the student making the facebook page, the small group making recipes and posting them to a cooking blog, are what I would classify as being just your ordinary writer. Their work is being recognized by peers, yes, but I could write a short poem about a man who had a gassy dog and post it on a joke website. That shouldn't put me in the same league as Rowling, Clancy and Tolkien.

So in short, after all that senseless rambling, what the defining difference between a "Writer" and an "Author" is if your writing is recognized by more than just those around you. I think the title of the book, especially in the context of the introduction, throws around the title of Author much too carelessly.





(Just a little note, without the dribble about blanket statements, including the last sentence in the first paragraph, it counted out to 214 words. Boom.)