Can I Be Considered a Writer if I have Not Tried to Get Anything Published?

When people ask me what I do for a living I think that in addition to my current paying job I will include Professional Asshole and writer. I have been hesitant to speak of myself as a writer, because I have not yet tried to get anything published. It is not yet how I make a living. Does one have to be published to be considered a writer?

I once considered myself very boring, but I think that was insecurity. I am not saying that I am the most interesting person, but no longer think of myself as boring. At times I have put myself as a sort of self defense. It was a way of saying things that I was afraid others might say about me before they had the chance to say them. Lately I have been meeting people online, and at times I do get tired of telling the same things about myself again and again. This is related to what I found boring about myself at times. At times I got tired of telling stories about myself to people who had never heard them. I do have some amusing memories, and hopefully I can tell them to others that will not bore them.

I am growing less insecure. I am a work in progress as all of us are.