Been gone a while...

I've been gone a long time. I've written, but it hasn't been on a computer,
I've just written in my diary, just a bunch of riff raff. What defines a 'writer'?
Is one considered a writer only when he/she has written numerous books? Or is a writer simply someone who is just a writer, say someone who just writes down ideas or thoughts, poems or stories? I'd like to consider myself a writer. I write feelings and thoughts almost all the time, it's just that no one really knows about them. Well I'm here right now at work and haven't written on this page for such a long time.