Some reasons why my academic peers and students could figure out I am a writer:
- I say things like, "This is just a form rejection."
- I measure output in word count, not in pages. E.g. Student, "How many pages should my paper be?" Rose: "About 1500 words."
- I count how many words until tenure.
- I call my academic writing "nonfiction"
- I am fond of telling my students, "Stephen King writes 2000 words a day! Come on, you can write this measly 250-word paper!"
- When confronted with a statement "How writers think about this, we will never know" (Mieke Bal, Narratology) I quickly respond with, "Actually, we do know," and a longish explanation.
- When asked, "How do you know all this?" I mumble, "I have been doing informal interviews with writers for a project."