Writers and writing

There was an interesting article in the guardian yesterday about writing. It got me thinking because a couple of years ago I was quite comfortable calling myself a writer. Now though, things have changed, and whilst the stack of articles and stories written by me has not diminished it has not increased significantly either.
Also this year I am doing a creative writing course at university which hopefully will educate me about the maze of writing and maybe prepare me for a literary life. But at the moment all I am left with is a children's book which I have been trying to get published for years, a stack of published articles, some short stories on my hard drive and two years left before I have my degree. I suppose I am hardly a writer at all. I am in the aspiring category and nowhere else... I still have a few months to write a magnificent novel and get it published. Yet I do not think things will appear so simple and straightforward again. I think I have learned something from my mistakes... Or maybe my sillyness of youth is simply waning.