When someone finds out I'm a published writer, I can guarantee I'll be asked one of two questions: 'Does it pay well?" and/or "In anything I've heard of?" Whether it pays well depends on whether you're used to champagne and flying on private jets, or dine regularly in your bedsit on beans on toast. Some people think that unless your earnings are in the J. K. Rowling bracket you aren't a proper writer. Maybe a list of my credits would impress them more.
I've had hundreds of pieces published or performed, but by the time I've hesitated over which ones to mention, the questioner has usually already dismissed me as an amateur, so I've thought about making a list of them all. There are more than a hundred ranging across professional genre, mainstream, online and traditional. Most are listed elsewhere on the website, so I won't include them all here, only one from each letter of the alphabet chosen at random:
Anathema, Binnacle, Cassandra, Daily SF, Emerald Tales, Fear, Golden Visions, Health and Harmony, Illumen, Jaffa Books, Les Bonnes Fées, New Myths, On the Premises, Pseudopod, Quantum Leap, Refractions, Songs of Eretz, Take a Break Fiction Feast, Voyage, Writing Tomorrow, Yellow Room.
So far there are no 'K's', 'U's', 'X's' or 'Z's', but who knows what 2019 will bring? One letter that will definitely be making another appearance is 'D' for Diabolical Plots.
As for that question: I could say that whether they will have heard of any of the publications my work has appeared in depends on how well-read they are, but I really don't want to insult potential readers. I shall probably be tongue-tied as usual. Maybe I should keep a copy of my list in my bag when I go out and simply hand it to them. If I'm lucky, it might act as a conversation starter, and encourage them to take a further look.