I’m glad to read the words I often think but never say. I have a thick skin so when I tell people I’m a writer the laughs and sniggers bounce off, but I have never really thought long about why the label writer/author has this sense of wonder associated with it. And I think you nailed it when you said writing is held to a higher standard. It shouldn’t. But from now on I’m going to take those gibes as nothing other than a compliment. Maybe that’s a little simplistic, but I remember a story a singer reflected on in an interview. After his drummer played a long complicated solo the singer said he laughed. He said he laughed because people tend to laugh when someone impresses them. And this is my take: maybe they also laugh and make fun because they think they can’t write themselves.