“Menswear designer for J. Crew? Interesting. Have you tried selling your clothes yourself on Etsy instead? I hear people are making millions self-designing on the internet these days.”
“Huh. A chef. Do people still eat food?”
Lincoln Michel imagines how people would talk to other professionals like they talk to writers. I’m sure I can speak for Lars on this. We’ve never had anything odd like this when people talk to us. The most common response is, “Whoa! Where are all the chicks?”
I get the self-publishing one SO OFTEN. And oh my goodness, the things people think about the publishing industry are CRAZY.
The most common thing I hear from people when they learn I’m a writer is, “I’ve always meant to write a book, but I never quite got around to it.”