How many times have you been out and about at a social event, a bar, a party etc. and had to answer the question, "what do you do?" I must have answered it a hundred times or more. And what do I say? My Job? Or my writing? I've always, without exception, said my job; even though my job means nothing to me. It's a means to eat and stay off the street but other than that it doesn't matter. I don't have a passion for it. It's not my dream or my life goal. It really doesn't say anything about who I am or what I'm about. I enjoy it and it pays the bills but that's it. In contrast my writing is a part of who I am. I have stories in my head almost every waking moment. I plot while driving, I carry a notebook with me and jot down dialogue or title ideas or story ideas. I've written and edited and published a book, and a damn good one at that, and yet I don't feel entitled to tell a stranger that I'm a writer.
Why is that?
Because I don't make any money at it. It's that simple. And I think that's really shitty. I assume when people ask "what do you do?" It's because they want to get to know you better: to form a connection or find similarities, but no. All people really want to know is how much money you make and how prestigious/educated you are. God I sound cynical. But it's true. Humans are super judgy, in case you haven't noticed.
Well, I've decided I'm going tochange my answer to that question. The next time someone asks me "what do you do?" I'm going to smile and say, I'm a writer. Although, I bet 100 bucks the following conversation will go something like this:
'oh wow, do you write for a newspaper or something?"
"No, I write books"
"really? that's exciting. What are they called, maybe I've read one."
"probably not, it's only e published. Only about 30 people have read it. But it's called Amaranthine."
"Oooooooooh, no. I meant, what do you do for a living?"
facepalm :-\