1. “So what is it that you write about, exactly?” (Oh God. Uh, is ‘everything’ an appropriate answer to this question? Listen, your curiosity in my everyday endeavors is greatly appreciated and I love you, but also, how dare you.)
2. “Can I send you something I wrote? Maybe you could give it a quick once-over.” (……………Sure.)
3. “Oh you write. Have you read [insert book by famous author]?” (Insert long drawn-out story about how I didn’t read a Stephen King book until I was 27 and I was doing just fine before that actually haha.)
4. “I’ve always wanted to write but can’t ever find time. How do you do it?” (Step one: Cry. Step two: Accept that I’ll never be up-to-date on all pop culture references known to other members of my generation. Step three: Talk about how I never have enough time to write. Step four: …)
5. “So when are you going to publish a book?” (You know, if I knew the answer to that question you’d most likely be one of the first people to know … you know that, right?)
6. “So when can I read your writing?” (When it’s published (: See #3.)
7. “I get a free copy because we’re related right?” (You always ask me what you should get me as a gift. How about buying a thing I wrote so that I can afford to eat?)
8. “Have you ever written about xyz?” (This is usually followed by the “I would love to write a book about …” monologue. Hey, I get it, I support every aspiring writer’s dream, but listen I have enough wandering ideas I don’t know if there’s room for yours up here.)
9. “You know I’m proud of you for all your hard work, right?” (What? I’m not crying. This is just what happens when I don’t know how to respond to people being unusually nice to me.)
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is an editor and writer, and a 12-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food, and Star Wars.
Meg Dowell Writes 
Oh, No. 5–ugh. My pat answer: “If done right, the process of publishing takes a very long time. The Fox News pundits you see that have a new book out every five minutes didn’t actually write their books.”
I’m lucky. I live next door to Stephen King. He’s always asking me to give his work a ‘quick, once-over’. Obviously, I tell him do some real writing, I’ll think about it. In the meantime…
Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this post from the Novelty Revisions blog with 9 Questions Your Family Will Probably Ask You About Your Writing At Some Point