Who currently knows you are a writer?

Discussion in 'General Writing' started by Hollowly, Apr 16, 2018.

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  1. Lew

    Lew Contributor Contributor

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    Until I got close to finishing my first big book, just close friends knew I was writing. I published The Eagle and the Dragon and Come, Follow Me a year and a half ago, have a collaborative non-fiction almost complete and ready for publication, and working on a sequel to E&D. My wife @K McIntyre published her first, Parham's Mill, a few months ago, and has finished a related work Ruby now being edited, and has a sequel to that getting started which will be an army doctor's view of WWII. We will be visiting the Royal Army Medical Corps Museum in Aldershot in June for research, the protag is an American doctor, but signs on as a doctor in the RA in 1939. Since we have both self-published, we are much more comfortable informing the world that we are writers. We have matching tee shirts, "Ask Me about My Books" and for my birthday, she got me a coffee cup with the same logo. So yes, we have very happily accepted our new identity.
     
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  2. Lew

    Lew Contributor Contributor

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    Oh yes, for my day job, I am 50K words into the E-6B aircraft specification, looking accusatorially at me for ignoring it on my other screen.
     
  3. Mink

    Mink Contributor Contributor

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    I snorted-giggled at that. xD
     
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  4. ThunderAngel

    ThunderAngel Contributor Contributor

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    My girlfriend knows; she's read some of my generally non-revised work and loves where I'm going with it.
     
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  5. KevinMcCormack

    KevinMcCormack Senior Member

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    Regarding employers... I would recommend keeping writing on the DL until you know how they feel about it. Lauren K mentioned she's not aware of it being a problem, but I can assure you that for some employers it really is a problem. Especially if the content is controversial or could reflect badly on the employer's industry. But that will vary by employer, I'm just recommending not bringing it up until you know their policy.

    Just as an example, I had a colleague terminated for doing standup. Her act had jokes that made fun of our industry, not even our employer specifically, but they felt it was a violation of her terms of employment. Minutes after the VP saw a youtube clip, she was escorted out of the building by security. Bad day.
     
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  6. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    I really had to think about how to answer this.

    Who knows I write (generally speaking) in real life? Most people who know me.

    Who knows I write romance and/or erotica in real life? A handful of people. A very small handful of people.

    Who knows I have published two books on Amazon in real life? A smaller handful of people.

    Who knows the titles and pen name I write under in real life? 3 people.

    Now, by 'real life' I mean people who I've been in a room with before. This includes all past school friends, work colleagues, etc. I do not advertise my pen name/books/website/titles on any of my personal sites (FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)

    The people who know my pen name/book titles/genre are pretty much exclusively people who have found it and bought it online or people who follow my social accounts that are devoted exclusively to my pen name. There is no crossover. My family does not follow my pages, subscribe to my email list, share my posts, buy my books, or contribute in any other way. I very much strive to keep those two sides of my life separate. Like @big soft moose with his mom - I have no desire or willingness to have the conversations that would undoubtedly ensue. My family and friends opinions of the genres I write can just about be summed up with two words "mindless. fluff." and I just really don't have time to educate small minded people - family or not.
     
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  7. graveleye

    graveleye Senior Member

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    My coworkers have known I have writing skills for years, and they are always coming to me to help them with various communicative problems.
    But do they know I write fiction? Not yet.

    In fact, the only people I have talked to about it are my wife and my mother. I really don't want anyone to know I am writing until it's published.
    That way, if it crashes and burns and never goes any farther than my hard drive, then I won't have to face them about it and can continue my life in a dignity.
     
  8. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    Most of my family and friends know I write as a hobby, but very few have actually read/have interest in reading my works.
     
  9. orangefire

    orangefire Active Member

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    Pretty much everyone who’s taken any sort of interest in my life. I need something interesting to tell people when they ask about my life. Writing is one of the few productive things I actually do on my free time, so it tends to come up.
     
  10. cutecat22

    cutecat22 The Strange One Contributor

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    Who knows I write ...

    Most people I know, know I write. The ones who know I write, know I've published, some wouldn't know the difference between self-publishing and traditional publishing so unless they ask me, I'm not going to make a point of telling them.

    That equates to - husband, kids, neighbours. Work collegues, friends, old school friends.

    Most of the people who know me personally, know my pen name and what I write. A few people who met "pen name" first, now know it's a pen name, but the majority of people who know my pen name, think that's me. And I'm quite happy for them to carry on thinking that. Gives me the opportunity to wake up in the morning and choose which person to be :-D

    I am a Gemini, after all ...
     
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  11. graveleye

    graveleye Senior Member

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    hey cool we're Geminis. Nice to meet us.
     
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  12. Hublocker

    Hublocker Active Member

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    I've been a working journalist since 1990 wit thousands of articles published.

    I was the high school columnist in my local newspaper in 1970 for goodness sake.

    So yeah, people know I'm a writer.

    But do people know I have a dark side too and write fiction?

    A few close friends.
     
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  13. GB reader

    GB reader Contributor Contributor

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    I always loved reading and I have read to many books. When I was young I was obsessed with reading. Nowadays I only read a lot.

    I am 64 years old. A year ago I decided that i should try to teach myself how to write. I set up a goal. Within two years I would have written a novella, say 20K words. I should also study enough about literature so that I could say that it's a reasonable good novella. At the moment I am not a writer, I am studying writing. I don't want to be an author. I want to learn the craft of writing.

    But a good way to learn how to write is to write. So this first year I have written short stories. I am getting better. But I begin to see that I need to make it a three year project. It's more complicated than I thought.

    I have no idea what the novella should be about. It will not be horror but anything else is possible.

    My family and closest friends know about it. They mostly smile. No one is really interested to read my exercises. Everyone at work know about it.
     
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  14. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    *raises hand* I'm a Gemini too
     
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  15. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Only those that take me seriously, or can't deny the evidence that I have provided.
    So largely no one of consequence. :p
     
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  16. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    No one takes me seriously! So I'm in the clear, for all I know I'm in a psych ward wearing a straight jacket, and all this s*** is just in my head. LOL!
     
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  17. Mouthwash

    Mouthwash Senior Member

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    No one outside of people on two forums (one of which is this).
     
  18. graveleye

    graveleye Senior Member

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    Slightly off topic but something I got to thinking about. I don't mind if friends and family read my work, but those aren't the readers I want. Friends and family and those who know me will read my book and will not be able to separate me from the MC or the story.
    I want readers who have no clue about me, my thoughts, and my personality and so on. I want it to be fresh, with no expectations and preconceived connections between me as the author and whatever is on the page.
    So, I have not gone out to my friends announcing that I am writing novels. If they find out and read it, that's fine, but they are definitely not my target audience.
     
  19. cutecat22

    cutecat22 The Strange One Contributor

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    I think most authors are of the same thought. But just because our friends and family know, doesn't mean we want them to read our books. My parents split when I was younger and I didn't meet my biological father until I was 36. My mother, is a god-awful woman who rejected all thoughts of me being an author, so I walked away from her and my step-father in my early thirties. They don't know I've written books, let alone published them. My biological father, is quite supportive. He tells everyone he knows that his daughter writes books, and always asks me how my latest project is going. Although he doesn't read the books, he always buys a first edition copy from me, and another copy for his girlfriend.

    I think family and friends can be very supportive without reading your work, just knowing what you do and supporting it where they can (like keeping out of your way when you are having a bad writing day and are acting like a brat) is enough.

    *waves at fellow Gemini* :cheerleader:
     
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  20. cutecat22

    cutecat22 The Strange One Contributor

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    HI!!! another one of us! :cheerleader:
     
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  21. T_L_K

    T_L_K Senior Member

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    I started taking writing seriously only recently. I don't envisage to ever be published - things I want to be read I publish on my blog.

    I don't really fear being ridiculed, though this is probably because I'm not looking to become a selling author. I'm guessing there'll always be someone to go, "What I read here is a lousy attempt by a half-talented writer to pretend they're [Celine, or Kundera, or F. S. Fitzgerald]", because who or what a writer's style is inspired by is often obvious. I suppose if I was to be a known author I'd be touched by unfavourable comments every now and then, but that alone wouldn't make me wish I'd just remained an unknown author.

    Many people I know are artistic themselves. Because we talk about our crafts they know I write, but I haven't shown my work to anyone who knows me so far. When I feel my blog's ready to be seen by some, I'll point them to it. If a colleague or manager asks what I enjoy doing, I sometimes mention writing along with the other things. It's safe to do this since I can be vague about what I write (so far stories, or bits of them, which would make me appear as the strange dark soul I'm really not). I don't think that telling a potential employer for a PT job that you'd been writing because it is something you want to pursue seriously can be detrimental.
     
  22. Alex R. Encomienda

    Alex R. Encomienda Contributor Contributor

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    Well, my family always knew that I wanted to be a writer when I was a little boy but now, most of my extended family is either dead or far away. I have them on Facebook so they probably know by now.

    It's not like I'm a huge, successful author or anything; I just share on my social media whenever a work gets accepted somewhere and sometimes my tia would go congrats! But other than that, nobody knows.

    I am a lonely, sad little person living by myself in a broken little house so there's nobody who even knows I exist other than family.
     
  23. alanzie

    alanzie Member

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    I had one short story published back in 2012 (I had written it in 1980 then stuck it in my sock drawer for for 32 years). At the time, my family and some friends knew of my humble accomplishment. Then I went into 5 years of literary brain freeze. I doubt that much of my family remembers that I had written and been published. . .they definitely don't know that my brain has since thawed out and I am now 20k words into my novel. The only one who knows that is my wife.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
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  24. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    There's a pertinent hashtag trending on Twitter at the moment: #familyblurb for the choicest quotes from family members reading one's books.



     
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  25. Necronox

    Necronox Contributor Contributor

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    Currently speaking, Only my immediate family and a few very close friends know that I am in the process of writing a novel/book. I've never treated it as a career and more as a hobby, so therefore I have never given it much thought to publishing or anything and become a 'true' author/writer. That said, and if I may permit myself to say, I am rather proud of what I have written so far.
     
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