John Sayles says in his book Thinking in Pictures (a great book about the making of Matewan) that he regards writing the screenplay as the "first draft" of a movie, shooting as the second draft, and editing as the final draft. Although I would probably have to explain like 25 drafts, I share this basic philosophy. I will have more to say about it in a future post that I will link here when I write it.
The artistic, non-managerial aspects of "directing" are very much "writing" for me; they're a continuation of trying to communicate what's in my head to the world outside my head using symbols and syntax in a comprehensible narrative order. When I say I'm a "writer," I sometimes forget that people will think I'm distinguishing that from directing. I'm not really. It's different, but it's also the same.