![]() A real writer would have won awards, been on best seller lists, sold fifty books…it’s like being an alcoholic in reverse. There’s still that edge of guilt-oh, yeah, well a real writer would have _. It doesn’t get much better after you publish. And never mind that you’re incurring all the cost of a business (equipment, supplies, training, sales letters, proposals to solicit work). Never mind that you’re working at a job that pays way less than minimum wage and doing it for love-those folks used to be admired, and now if you’re not a “professional” somehow you’re not legitimate. You keep it under wraps or wave it off, and you only answer if your significant other brags about you thus forcing you into The Question.Īnd when it comes time to file taxes, you hover over the words and put either a slash (as in I’m a web producer/writer), or you just put down the day job. The person doing the pop quiz has nothing to take home-no bragging rights for having met “a real author” (of real books, the definition of which changes depending on who is doing the reading). You’re not writing what they read, or what they want to tell people they read. ![]() You’re not quite “a name” (or at least not the name they were looking for), yet you’re a writer. You’ve kicked their puppy, burst their balloon, salted their punch. And here’s the thing-you tell them you write romances (or whatever genre, if you’re so lucky as to have a single genre), and you mention your story titles, and you get a blank look back. But a writer…you have to name your books, your stories, and I’ve thought sometimes that I should just carry a resume to show folks who ask. Lawyers do not have to whip out briefs doctors do not need to show their latest prescription and case file. Now, no one asks an accountant, “What taxes have you filed lately.” Or asks any other profession to somehow provide credentials to prove your claim. (Is this because we’re taught in school that only “literary fiction” is of real value?) Or you get, “What have you written lately?” It’s either, “Oh, what do you write?” This comes with an implication that maybe you write technical manuals, or non-fiction, or something that means of course you don’t write anything meaningful-as if somehow none of that other stuff counts. The Question comes phrased one of two ways. Eager anticipation mixes-yes, they really do want to say they’ve met a real author-with half-hidden skepticism, and then you get The Question. Part of this is due to the looks you get when you say this. It’s taken a long time for me to get comfortable with saying, “I a writer.” Part of this is due to the fact that I’ve always written-it’s just something you do…well, something I do. ![]()
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