The Writer's Block

by Alyssa Ast

The most annoying question I'm asked when people find out I'm a writer is, "what do you write?"And then, after I tell them what I do they just stare at me completely lost for words and end up more confused about what I do than when I first started talking. Not to mention the dumbfounded looks I receive when people ask me what types of books I've published. I guess SEO and SEM just aren't what people were hoping for. Next time someone asks me what I write, maybe I should just take the easy way out and tell them "words" or "sentences."

What do you write?
I really dread when people are about to ask me what I write because there's no easy answer. Writing involves so much that nonwriters just can't understand what we do in one or two simple sentences. If I say I'm an author, the next questions that follow are, "oh, what have you published" or "is it a book I would know about?" What am I supposed to say? No, you probably haven't unless you're into SEMPO. And if I say they are about marketing and SEO, I just get a disappointed, "oh."

Then, if I say I write articles or online content, the question is, "about what?" Sigh, there's just no easy answer at all. I could go into all the details about everything I write, but the poor person asking the question would probably get scared by my rambling and run away to never talk to me again.

No one understands what we do other than fellow writers. Nonwriters just don't seem to connect with what we do or our work like other writers do, which can be very frustrating at times. But hey, if someone told be they were a researcher or scientist, I'm sure I would ask, "what do you research?" Their answer would probably leave me just as dumbfounded as those who ask me what I write.

So what do you write? How do you answer this question without confusing people?

Happy Writing!

What do you write?