The Unknown Author

It is going to happen.  Someday, when you introduce yourself as a writer, someone is going to ask what you’ve written.  And, with a distinct and certain dread, you will listen as they say to your list of credits, “I haven’t heard of it/them”.  Oh, it’s coming.  I am unsure if anyone who professes to be a writer has ever gotten away with not having it occur.

I’ve been there.  I am foolish enough to answer truthfully when someone asks my occupation; it is a better answer than saying I have no job. 

I used to tell people who asked what I’ve written that I haven’t been published but then some think I am not really writing, just playing.  Others will nod in sympathy when I say it.  (I guess the thinking is I am not as able to pull off feats of semi-intellectual grace due to my brain damage, it happens to me sometimes.)

So, I changed my strategy.  I began saying I haven’t been published anywhere the person has heard of.   (Honesty, right?)  Well, then the person believes I am attacking how well-read he/she is.  One woman actually stood by my table in an establishment and kept asking me “where else” in the hope that she would prove me wrong and recognize one, which bugged me to no end and had her eventually leave in a huff. 

I don’t know if there is a great system to deal with this stuff. Now I just tell people some of the “bigger places” and hand them a business card with my blog URL on it.  Hey, maybe they’ll remember me next time!

How do you handle those types of things?