Do people believe you have a "real" job?  

Well... I believe that this is a real job for me. I am a full time student, it is impossible for me to get an offline job in the country but well, I don't know how to say it, but I think the best way to make money for me is from the internet. Yes, that is why I think it is a real job. And if you ask me whether I care or not about that, I would proudly say that I don't care if it is a real job or not a real job as long as it gives me the real money, I would still do that anyway.

As a fellow writer, I often get this response from friends. The call me up or stop by especially when I am in the middle of something. The say "you can finish that later" or some other "insult" that what I do isn't a "real" job. I don't know how to handle it. Sometimes I just don't answer the phone if I am working. That seems to work well for the phone calls. As for converstions about work I tend to chime in on what I am working on. And I call it work. You have to set the tone to let them know that what you are doing is work, even if it is at home.

I work from home too. And I don't have much of a problem with people stopping by. I'm kind of reclusive. The problem I have is with my daughter who lives in a different state calling me like 2 to 4 times a day, every day almost. Now please understand that I love my daughter very much but the work that I do online is I read tarot cards on the phone that is sent to me via a website. So every time she calls I have to log off of the site. I have tried to explain this to her time and time again but either she just doesn't get it or doesn't care. So that is the only problem that I have.

hello! i had worked before in different companies but still i can't find myself suit to it. i had just ended my job last year December 2008 because of change management or shall i say job crises....
so now, i found out about this "mylot" while surfing through the net one night and i tried it and it was fun for me i never thought of having money while you were in your house,no boss,no cost of going to the office and time to prepare yourself for another day to work in the office and most of all YOU have a lot of time to your family....
i think it is fun to do it and i loves it...
maybe it will make other people like it too and a solution to those people that looking for some income right now. And for those who are needing some extra i highly recommend to join "mylot" they might find there needs right only there at there place and there time.

I would like to say that I am just starting my career as a freelance writer and I can't tell you how many times I have heard the same thing as you. I have another issue too, I am a stay at home mother. I do online work for a few pennys a day and I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that I should get out of my house and get a job. Not always an easy thing to do and rather pointless in my opinion. I would literally be working just so that I could pay to have my children in a day home so that I could work. Not smart as far as I am concerned. I have learned to tell these people that I love writing and that YES it is a job whether it's done from home or not. The only thing you need to remember is that the people who understand and support you, are the only ones that should matter. Everyone else should just be ignored. I hope that you feel better and that you keep writing, when you publish a best seller, we'll all know who has the real job!

I worked writing tv scripts for six years. During that time, I had to listen to that a lot of times. A lot.

Worst, sometimes I was really busy, working at home, and people called me asking for favors "as long as you're at home" as if I had nothing to do.

I had no problem with the first part -as someone already said, I KNEW I wasn't idle and that was enough, but it was knd of difficult to convince people not to disturb me when I was working. I even stopped answering the phone. :P

Funny thing, now I work at an office and have a lot of idle time -I have to be here wether I have work to do or not. But people (family, friends) don´t call me at all, they know I'm at my workplace and then they assume I'm working hard :S

i think that writers are being more accepted as having a job but i dont know. i was a writer for a couple of years and well, to me, it didnt matter what anyone said. i was on sick leave during the summer and scrapbooked for money. does that mean i didnt have a real job? i think a 'real job' is anywhere you make money.

Well i take it as a job since a) you are actually doing a job of some sort for somebody and b)if you consider it work its work.
I have no problems with this with my peers they sometimes envy my career choice.
one way to resolve this is to compare earnings.

For quite a few years now, I've considered myself as a freelancer and one who is self-employed. I do a little bit of sales here and there. I even got a very, very small business (which I call a monkey biz HAHAHA) with a friend of mine. It is not financially rewarding but I like that it is to my own time management. I also do a bit of writing.

Some people may call it a job and some people may scoff it off saying I'm not doing anything. Well that's a wake-up call for them. They have to be more open-minded about how others can do things differently, not according to their norms.

It can get irritating at times when I feel the need to explain myself when I actually don't have to. Especially for those who make careless remarks on assuming things. I appreciate more the persons who know and understand what I am doing. I guess, different strokes for different folks. I just handle it with a thought like this: "All I know is I am doing something. That's enough for me. I don't owe anybody an explanation."

I want to be a soho though I'm a full time office worker now. I am tired of the routine worke. If I can stay at home and get paid,that's quite good . I can manage my time more freely. And working for myself will expire me a lot.