“In my experience, when I’ve told someone “I’m a writer,” the two most common responses are the following: 1) No response, head nod/smile. 2) “I wrote a novel once” or “I have an idea for a book, let me tell you about it.” On occasion, the person may ask what I’ve written (“Can I get it at Amazon?”) or the dreaded “What are your books about?” but the conversation feels strictly one-sided and I’m often left rambling about how it’s only something I do on the side, not my real job or anything, oh no, that would be crazy. The social level guilt is a kind of “distant-guilt” because 1) No one understands writers and 2) No one outside of writing circles and MFA groups wants to engage in a two hour speculative discussion on what Donald Antrim is working on.” Shane Jones, “700 Cats: Why I Write.”
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“In my experience, when I’ve told someone “I’m a writer,” the two most common responses are the following:

1) No response, head nod/smile.

2) “I wrote a novel once” or “I have an idea for a book, let me tell you about it.”

On occasion, the person may ask what I’ve written (“Can I get it at Amazon?”) or the dreaded “What are your books about?” but the conversation feels strictly one-sided and I’m often left rambling about how it’s only something I do on the side, not my real job or anything, oh no, that would be crazy. The social level guilt is a kind of “distant-guilt” because 1) No one understands writers and 2) No one outside of writing circles and MFA groups wants to engage in a two hour speculative discussion on what Donald Antrim is working on.”

Shane Jones, “700 Cats: Why I Write.”

Source: themillions.com

“Like many novelists, I tend to experience an existential crisis every time I finish a book. Why bother? Why engage in such an intangible and self-involved vocation when I could be doing something more tangibly and socially useful? (i.e., stopping a pipeline, regrouting the bathroom.) Why write longform narrative in a world that prefers to live swiftly and episodically?” — The Beautiful Afterlife of Dead Books by Kyo Maclear
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“Like many novelists, I tend to experience an existential crisis every time I finish a book. Why bother? Why engage in such an intangible and self-involved vocation when I could be doing something more tangibly and socially useful? (i.e., stopping a pipeline, regrouting the bathroom.) Why write longform narrative in a world that prefers to live swiftly and episodically?”

— The Beautiful Afterlife of Dead Books by Kyo Maclear