1. Not every writing job entails only writing. Like with any job, there are sometimes parts of their work a writer just doesn’t enjoy. Sometimes those parts become the majority of their day, and they just have to deal.

2. We mostly just get emails and tweets about typos and things we did wrong. We don’t often hear positive feedback. It’s there, but it’s not as frequent.

3. Everyone’s always asking us “when we’re going to publish a book.” They don’t ever ask how it’s going, or what the process is like, or how we’re feeling.

4. For some reason, people are mostly willing to compensate writers … just not with decent pay, and sometimes not even with money! Woo!

5. Writers are expected to write, proofread, take their own photos, know how to build websites, run the occasional small errand … you get the idea.

6. For many people, writing is a very slow, very exhausting burn. There’s a lot of work with little reward. Staying motivated is possible, but it doesn’t always come easily.

7. Despite how it might look from the outside, writing isn’t actually all that easy. It’s time-consuming, it takes a lot of brain power, and sometimes you have to keep doing it not knowing if your effort will be “worth it.”

8. Writers aren’t always taken seriously. Sometimes people assume we’re lazy or “not as smart” because we tend to spend more time being quiet, deep in thought.

9. Sometimes we don’t get to work with people that are all that nice or interested in helping us grow and improve. But for many, a paycheck is a paycheck.

10. The world is full of dark emotions, and we have to be very in touch with those emotions to write compelling prose. It’s rewarding, sure, but it can be draining too.

11. We don’t get a lot of “thank you”s. Sometimes it’s really nice to hear a few.

12.  We’re not unhappy or upset. We’re just a little busy with our heads down, you know … writing.

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.

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