And they will often ask me to bake-for their husband’s birthday, their parents’ anniversary. And in the months that follow, those people will send me emails asking me to recommend a bakery or if I have a recipe for something. I’m not going to challenge anyone’s political leanings, nor will I bore them with historical meanderings. Now, in their eyes, I’m even better than a writer. It’s already on !” With sound effects, you’d hear a bowling ball striking all ten pins with ferocity, the pins falling loudly and slowly.

Now I’ve written a book! So when people ask, I say, “I just finished a book about cake for Simon & Schuster that will be out April 14th. Are writers more fascinating? Or do we have more to prove? A writer can sometimes gain respect claiming to have written for local papers and glossies, but even then, people want to know the subject, whether they’ve read something you’ve written. Brevity? You might as well be speaking dog.

And if you write essays for literary magazines, forget about it. “Oh, that kind of writer.” And just watch their noses turn up, as if accosted by a foul odor, when you tell them you’re a poet. It’s not glamorous enough to write newsletters and ad copy. “A writer, eh? Well, what have you written?” If you answer that you’re a writer, though, you seem to be scrutinized. What do you do? If you’re a plumber or a life insurance salesman or a retail sales clerk, sometimes folks will ask where you work and if you like it, depending on whether they care to get to know you or are just making small talk. Miller author of the upcoming Let Me Eat Cake: A Celebration of Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla, Baking Powder, and a Pinch of Salt writes about writing her essay “Three Bites” in Brevity 28

Let Me Eat Cake by Leslie F. Miller