“What do you do?”  That’s the  question I dread, especially at those author cocktail parties where  you’re supposed to network.

Notice, the question’s rarely,  “How do you do? ” but , what . That’s when I try not to stutter, or drop my prop of a wine glass. For, as we writers know, the question is really what do we write about and I find it impossible to define that.

How can I explain in a one-minute encounter that my books range from bereavement to Bible?  Or that my short stories include an indescribable   variety of situations women cope with? And my articles range …well, you get the idea.

I did try getting attention from an assured  woman who boasted that she writes chick lit by telling her that  my latest short story is about a mother whose child is kidnapped.   Shuddering she retorted, ”What made you write about that?”  Then hurried on to the next prospect without waiting for my answer.

A friend advised me to say that I “cover the waterfront,” assuring me it’s a stock phrase for diversity. So at the next   literary gathering, I answered the usual question by telling a man,  ”I sort of cover the waterfront.”

“Water sports sell these days,” he said.

Left alone in that crowd I overheard a woman tossing off a blithe, “I’m a generalist.”

When I tried out that word I felt so military, I expected to be saluted.

Recently I was interviewed by British blogger Morgen Bailey, who wanted toknow  whether  I ‘m a  fiction or non-fiction author.  When I said I straddle both sides, she listed me as “multi-genre.”

Now there’s an impressive phrase!  But when I rehearsed it in private   I had trouble with the “r” – should it be pronounced or ignored?

Surely I’d get good advice from my articulate nephew, Benjamin Kassoy. At the awesome age of 24 he’s already co-authored two books. I asked him how he answers that inevitable networking question.   He told me that,  as I know, he loves to talk. He also loves to write.  But his twin loves fail to join forces when asked what he writes. “I let my writing do the talking,” he confides.

I’ve  now decided that the next time I’m asked what I write, I’ll say,  ”Words.”

Who’s listening anyway?

[Anyone with a savvy reply is welcome to share on my blog.]

WEBSITE: annehosansky.com

BOOKS:

“Widow’s Walk,” available through iUniverse.com; “Turning Toward Tomorrow,” available through xLibris; “Ten Women of Valor,” available through CreateSpace.com and Amazon. Also available for Amazon Kindle.