Author or Writer?

I just read a most fascinating author biography that appeared in an on-line version of a literary journal.  It stated that the author was the winner of a writing prize, that she had received three fellowships, and was currently living in New York and working on a collection of short stories.  The bio then noted that the story that followed was her "first story accepted for print publication"!  How does one win prizes and fellowships as a writer if one never has anything published?  I think it is because we have an increasing number of authors in this country and fewer writers.

An "author" is someone who majors in English, gets a masters degree in creative writing, interns in a publishing house or at a newspaper, then gets a job teaching writing at a community college.  The "author" then submits stories and poems to magazines and literary journals run by other "authors."  They publish each other's stories, award each other prizes, and revel in the self-satisfaction of being an "artist."

A writer does stuff and then writes about it.  Mark Twain was a printer, a steamboat pilot, a miner, and a reporter.  He wrote about real people who did real things.

That's exactly the problem with the subject matter of most authors.  The only life they know is that of an author and so we get lots of stories and novels about introspective writers contemplating the world.  And don't get me started on most modern "poetry."  That stuff reads like a list of Boggle words and makes even less sense.

I've often heard it said that writers write.  I don't think that is quite accurate.  Authors write; writers do stuff and then write about it.