[cstross]

If you want mortification, try writing for a living. In reality, you're running a small (one and a half person) business supplying IP to large multinational OEMs. But if you say "I'm an author" everyone thinks you spend your days swigging dry martinis by the pool while languidly dictating to your busty secretary -- or that you want them to think that's how you spend your days. The media have a lot to answer for, for turning "author" into a lifestyle rather than a job description.

(I think in future I'll start saying "I run a contracting company in the intellectual property sector". "What kind of intellectual property?" "Stories about space nazis ...")

[donaq]

Hmm. So what do you actually swig while languidly dictating to your busty secretary, if not dry martinis?

Thanks for the hours of entertainment I derived from reading the Laundry novels, by the way. I especially loved The Jennifer Morgue. Accelerando was awesome too. More!