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The other day one of my author friends moaned to me about how much people hate on her for being a writer. “It’s basically like being a minority,” she said. (She’s also a minority.) “Everyone hates on you. No one understands. Everyone is so freaking unsupportive. You’re required to be embarrassed of your profession.”
“I don’t mind that much,” I said. “I’m kind of used to it.” Throughout my whole life, writing wasn’t considered a “real” career, by my family, my friends, or anyone else. To this day, none of my non-writer friends have read my books, been a part of critique groups, or followed my work online.
I’ll never forget in law school when I landed a gig with the Boston Globe (a big deal) and my friends completely ignored it. The next week, one of them landed a position with the law school newspaper. Everyone was super excited. That memory still nags me on bad days.
I shared this experience with my friend. “That’s just how everyone is,” I said. “You get used to it.”
“No,” she said, vehemently. “You get used to it. You’re not just a writer. But think about what it’s like for those of us who aren’t also, like, lawyers.”
That really hit me. I do have a lot of privilege that comes with being an attorney, but I never thought…
