Granted, it is much easier to get published now with self-publishing, but still a ridiculous quantity of work, even after you finish and repeatedly re-work that novel.
Writer friends, do you have a (not so) favorite follow-up question you get after telling people you’re a writer?
Yes, I get this all the time as well. I hate it because I can predict the next few sentences perfectly now. “No, I created my own publishing group and will be publishing under that.” “oh that sounds like a lot of work” (crickets) They never ever reply after that. I think I have had that conversation 10 times in the last 3 weeks. They don’t get it and that is fine, but when they ask a question you expect at least a little more interest.
Lol yeah, right???? Gah, the joys of being a writer. And they have no concept of what a tiny, tiny chance you have of being traditionally published….
Lol love the picture! I totally agree. Another pet peeve of mine is when you say you’re a writer, and people come back with some variation of “Aw, that’s a cute hobby”… 😛
Lol yes, yes indeed. If they had any inclining of how…much…work…it takes. Just so much. And really how many different skills it takes! It’s so, so much more than just having a story idea.
“What do you write about?”
*after jumping through mental anguish hoops* “Queer shit.”
-or-
“What’s your book about?”
“A gay angel.”
Yeah I hate trying to explain what my stuff’s about. Even though I have all these twitter pitches, I still can’t always coherently talk about it. But your response gets right to the point 😀
The only way to get over the nervousness of being asked that question is to TOTALLY OWN the answer. So I do. I’ve had long enough of squirming under them both.
Truth!
“Are you gonna put me in your book?”
I don’t mind a bit of Tuckerization–I realized I could use a lot of my coworkers’ last names as street names and get away with it–but as a real character? Yeah, probably not gonna happen. 😉
LOLOL yeah… Though I will confess, in my current WIP, I am basing some of the characters on people I went to high school with 😛
I’m particularly enamoured of the line, “I wish I had the time to write.” Brings a tear to my eye every time.
Yeah, I agree :(. It’s such a rewarding experience and so sad to hear of a person who WANTS to write but hasn’t found a way to make it happen….