"So, what do you do?"
It's a common question. I just no longer have a good answer for it. A few years ago, it was easy. I puffed up my chest and told people that I work at a nonprofit agency on public policy and programs.
Now I could also answer that I'm a writer, although I don't feel like a writer. Writers are people who write every day, whether or not they earn a living from it. Sometimes there are days when I don't write a word other than what is on my to do list. I was thinking about how much like a poser I feel when I tell people that I'm a writer, and then I realized that I was narrating what scene in my head. Maybe constantly thinking like a writer to qualifies me as a writer, even if I don't write daily?
The funny thing is that I still think of myself as a policy person even though I don't do anything policy related on a daily basis, either. But just as I narrate things in my head on an ongoing basis, I think about policy every day. I certainly don't feel like a pretentious douche (scent: Summer Rain) when I tell people that I'm currently unemployed and looking for a job in public policy or program management the way I do when I say, "I'm a writer."
The difference, I'm thinking now, is that being good at your job as a writer is a lot more subjective than as a policy person/program manager. In the latter, it is obvious if you understand what is going on in the world and whether you are good at it or not. Obviously, there's a baseline for writing, but it is a lot more subjective as to whether one is good at it.
Just thinking while suffering from insomnia for no discernible reason...
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First: You are PUBLISHED!
ReplyDeleteSecond: No one but a writer would mention the scent of the pretentious douche they sometimes feel like!
:)
ReplyDeleteJust an observation from a lurker:
ReplyDelete"Writers are people who write every day, whether or not they earn a living from it."
Don't you write here every day? Isn't this blog writing?
Don't stop writing. We enjoy it so much.
I would like to suggest more Bube (you'll still need to explain some of it to this texas gal)
Paint.net rocks doesn't it?
Well, I write almost every day on CUSS. Sometimes I'm too busy to get to it, or I (gasp!) have nothing interesting to say. :) But yes, I think I just need to step up to the plate and admit that I am a writer. But I'm also a policy person, hence the confusion.
ReplyDeleteBubbe is Yiddish for grandmother. My bubbe is my dad's crazy mother. She was born in Russia and came here in 1950, when my dad was five.
Paint.net totally rocks!!!
It's not true that writers write every day. No one does their job every day - even those of us in offices. We all slack off some times or have a day when we do things that while kind of job related are not our jobs.
ReplyDeleteAs for the duality, well, that's something many of us struggle with. You could say you are a writer slash [insert adjective] policy expert.
I alternate between telling people I am a consultant (no one knows what that means) and an activist ("Oh, will I have seen you in anything?") Usually, I fall back on the fact that many people asking the question "what do you do" are doing so out of a desire to peg you into a hole. Don't be pegged!
Sorry for the long post ;-)
at least you have 2 things you love & you're doing them (even if it is intermittent right now). my job is horrible & i'm not good at anything/like anything that i might be qualified for in a job. i can barely keep up with blogging.
ReplyDeleteyou are a great writer & you've continued to improve. that's why we keep reading you!
I'll tell you what's cracking me up - how poorly I conveyed my thoughts in this post about writing! I think I'm more confused about how to answer people as to what I do because I do two things, although clearly I'm less secure about the writing part. (Getting better at puffing my chest out at that, though.) And sadly, right now I don't get to do the policy/program stuff, although I hope to rectify that soon. It's amazing how much I need both to feel balanced.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the supportive comments! (And Mar, I think you're far more skilled than you give yourself credit for. We should form a club!)