Mangled Manuscript Monday

It happened again. My deer-in-the-headlights reaction to *the* question.

“So what are you doing now?”

“I’m retired,” I muttered.

I could have said, “I’m a writer of fantasy with three manuscripts under my belt, a fourth started, and numerous short stories hovering in my documents.”

But as soon as the words leave my mouth, ‘I am a writer’, I know the questions that come next. And the ‘face’ of the speaker. They don’t quite roll their eyes. At least, not right away.

“Oh? You write books? Like Tom Clancy?” –raised eyebrows

“Um, no.”
“Like Louis L’Amour?”

“No.”

“Stephen King?”

“No. I write fantasy. Like Patricia Briggs.”

*silence*

“Like Jim Butcher.”

*crickets chirping* “Well, good luck with that. Hey, what about Desperate Housewives on TV, why not write that stuff instead.”

*facepalm*