Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
If someone told me at a party that they were an author, an artist or a musician, all I know is that they write books, create art or make music. It doesn't imply that they write good books, create good art or create music, or that their creations would be to my liking.
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I'm leaving good or bad creations in the middle in this discussion, but I do understand what CatLady says, and also what moonshot means.
If you would ask me at a party: "Hey man, what do you normally do?"
I could answer: "I'm a Hammond organ player."
I could also answer: "I'm a photographer."
Or: "I'm an author."
Or: "I'm a martial artist."
Or: "I'm a chess player."
Or....
It's true. I'm all of those. Still, it would be ludicrous of me to give any one of those as an answer. I would not be surprised to get a follow-up question:
"Cool! What band do you tour with / in what magazines did your pictures appear / what books have you written / in what movies do you play / what tournament did you win last?"
And my answer would have to be: "Uh..... ahem... gurgle... On a different note... it's cold outside, isn't it? Hehe. *swallow*"
If you tell people "I'm a ....", the expect that you make your primary living on it. If not, then you're not going to mention this if people are asking after your occupation.
In my situation, the only correct answer would be: "I'm a software engineer," as that is my primary source of income, and I *could* mention that I do one of the other things for fun, and sometimes make some money with it.
If you would make the point that you consider yourself an author first, and the supporting job second, you'd say something like: "I am a fantasy author, but regrettably, I don't make enough money on writing yet. Therefore, I also have a day job/part time job as a software engineer as well."
I agree with CatLady that telling people you're an author while you don't make a dime with it and actually work as a cleaner to earn some money is stupid and maybe even snobbery; pretending that you're better than you are. In that case you are an author, obviously, but your occupation is that of a cleaner.
Damn. Quantum Thread. *runs*