Member-only story
So, What Do You Do, Joe?
Imposter Syndrome at Its Finest
Picture this: you’re at a social event, chatting with a small group of people gathered near the cheese plate when someone turns to you and asks, “So, what do you do, Joe?”
You freeze. What do you say? The truth? That you’re currently unemployed?
Do you tell them you used to work as a hospital unit clerk, a pizza delivery guy, or an HVAC journeyman for fourteen years? Because you can’t tell them you just quit your job so you could write full-time? You can’t tell them you have a 2,000-word article about mushroom picking currently being considered for an outdoors magazine, but you haven’t heard back yet. You can’t tell them about that novel you’ve been working on for a year — the one that hijacks your life most evenings? Can you?
Fortunately, while you are stalling by the Stilton, your forked olive poised in mid-air, the conversation turns to something else. Phew! You dodged that bullet, didn’t you?
Here’s the thing, though. You could have just said, “I’m a writer.” Three words. Easy as Sunday morning. Because if you write, that’s what you are.
I hate the “what do you do?” question because what we “do” to pay the bills often doesn’t define who we are. I much prefer the question, “What’s your passion?” The answer to that one…
