So, you're a writer...

In my line of work, you always tend to meet a lot of new people, but this last year has been particularly intense in terms of meetings and greetings.
One of the most frequent comments I get, when I tell people I'm a writer, is "OK, so what do you do for a living?". Another frequent one is "have you ever been published?".
I could choose to take offence at these questions, but actually I find them quite a telling way of measuring how people outside the writing professions (and sadly, sometimes writers themselves) see writers and view the art of writing. There is a definite assumption that regardless of your skill, you are not supposed to be able to make a living from writing, or at least not from writing alone. When I affirm that yes, writing is what I do for a living, full-time, ironically this is almost an affront to some people, whose stereotypes are forced to take a bashing.
That's not to say the stereotype isn't based on some cold, hard facts. A recent survey showed that 5% of authors in the UK made some 42% of all the monies earned by authors last year, while around 53% of us made less than 10k a year and I can well believe it.
The other assumption - that you can call yourself a writer without ever having been published - is a tricky one. Essentially I saw myself as a writer long before I had ever even attempted to get published. But, that said, there is no way I would have introduced myself as such to other people, particularly not random strangers I'd just met, if I couldn't substantiate my claim. If I had never had a single reader and people asked what I did for a living, in all likelihood I would just tell them about my day job and leave it at that.
The questions might be somewhat ignorant and full of bias, but to me there is a far worse insult to any writer out there and it goes like this:
You meet someone new, they've read your work, they're very complimentary about it.
You feel flattered, very pleased.
They mention that they have this new project they're starting and they'd love to have you on board, they love your writing.
You find out more, start getting excited about the prospect and then we come to the crucial detail.
"What rates do you pay?"
"Oh, I can't actually pay you... But it would be a great way for you to showcase your work."
Yeah well, that's why I have a website and guess what? I paid to have it done. I did not say to the web designer "please do my website for free, it'll be a great way for you to showcase your work", because that would have been an insult to her skills and talent.
I rest my case.