RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist#ScribesAndMakers 2026.04.04 —How do you answer if someone asks you what you do? Is your answer different in person than it is online?
In person, I avoid the question. Before I was retired, I was a "programmer," and trust me, practically nobody is interested in finding out more about that. But. Now. Retired, and only in the case of what-do-you-do questions, sadly so. With nothing recently published and numerous works in progress, it's just too difficult (possibly embarrassing) for a shy autist to answer. Small talk is an anathema to me. I even have a gesture my spouse understands—touching my nose—to intervene before I might have a meltdown. It isn't that I don't want to communicate—I really do—and if I am comfortable with a person, or for example on a panel, meeting a fellow author, or needing the chat up a publisher, that's a totally different thing; it is something I can prepare for. I can become downright loquacious!
I am much more facile and neurotypical sounding when answering on-line. For starters, that I am a published SF author is all over my profile, with all the information the questioner needs to know to ask questions I am able to easily answer. Also, on-line, I can take my time or deflect questions.
[Author retains copyright (c)2026 R.S.]
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