This can be a good exercise even if you don't style yourself as a writer!

I don't.

I write, obviously (unless ChatGPT generated all this for me...hmm...), but it's not my profession. At least, not my stated one.

Still, I managed to write enough fiction to feel a little guilty about not "writing what I know" given that the story was set somewhere I'd never been. And, being the honest type, when I did finally go there, and people asked why, I had to admit that, at least for the purposes of this trip, I was "a writer".

It turns out--at least at this location, at least giventhe non-threatening nature of fiction--that people quite like writers, especially those who write about something they're associated with. It did light up the room to an extent that surprised me, and was a topic that most everyone felt comfortable talking about. Since I actually had written fiction involving the place, and had no stake in being officially a writer and thus avoided the concomitant nervousness that comes with having to prove oneself, the conversations were engaging, not difficult. It was quite an interesting experience.

So, I also recommend this to "non-writers" who just happen to have done some writing. In the correct context, where you have a sufficiently valid claim, try on "I'm a writer"! I don't know what your experience will be, but I was glad to have had mine.