Talking about Writing

Yesterday at work, someone asked me what I do on Wednesdays.

Oh my, I thought. What do I say? Laundry? That's only partly true, and not really the reason I requested Wednesdays off in the first place.

I was caught. I had to tell her the truth. The rest of the conversation went something like this:

"Umm...I try to work on my manuscript," I said, then added hastily, "and do laundry."

"Oh! You're writing a book?"

"Yep."

"What's your book about?"

How much do I tell her? This isn't exactly a passing-in-the-hall conversation! "It's a novel-in-verse," I said. "Sort of a fantasy story."

Lame, I know. I'll turn around and you can kick me now.

I went on to tell her that I'm focusing on getting an agent. And she really did seem sincerely impressed. And today, when we were sitting in the lounge at lunch (just three of us, thankfully), she turned and said to me, "Tell her (a co-worker) that fun thing you told me yesterday." The woman sitting next to her perked up, at least pretending to be interested.

Oh my, again. "I write children's books," I said.

"Oh, have you had any published?"

I smiled. "Not yet."

"Have you sent them out?"

"Yep."

"It's cool that we know you, because maybe some day we can say 'we knew her when...'"

I smiled and laughed along with them, but my time for lunch was over, so I didn't say much after that besides, "Enjoy the rest of your day."

I'm not really a wordy person. But should I have said a bit more? I could have told them that my dream is to spend my days writing stories that people will want to read. Stories that will make kids want to save up their allowance, just so they can buy my next book. But, I confess I am a little cautious when talking to people about my writing. I can't help but wonder if they secretly think I'm a weird writer wannabe. And maybe I am.

But maybe some day, my friends really will smile and say, "I knew her when..."