It’s one of the most popular memes out there: what people think writers really do. Let’s give it a Canadian spin.

You’ve seen the meme many times. It revolves around a profession, and it shows:

• What my friends think I do.
• What my husband/wife thinks I do.
• What society thinks I do.
• What somebody else thinks I do.
• What I think I do.
• What I really do.

They almost always travel in packs of six. Often, there’s an editor in there, because this meme is often about writers.

In case you’ve skillfully managed to evade them all these years, here are six sample writer memes. The article continues after the samples.

Canadian blogger meme

However, I have yet to see a writer meme specifically for Canadians, so I thought to create one. Let’s see what people think a Canadian blogger writes. Yes, that would be me, reduced to a Canadian blogger meme.

My American blogger friends, and other Americans, think I write “Eh?” a lot. Hmm. Frankly, I’m not sure I’ve ever written “Eh?” in a blog post.

My wife thinks I go on and on and on, because I always seem to be at the computer.

My kids figure that I’m just writing that they should go away, leave me alone and let me work, since that’s what I tell them when they try to pry me away from the computer.

Society thinks I write about government cover-ups, secret societies, underground plots and conspiracy theories, because…isn’t that what bloggers write about?

I think I’m a wonderful writer, but more important, I write important things that the world should read.

In fact, what I write is mundane. It’s just another blog post.

What do you do as a writer?

Memes are funny not just because they are ridiculous, but because they point out something ridiculous about life. The fact is that most of us know very little about what other people do for a living.

We have neighbours, and we have no clue what they do.

We meet people on the job, doing their job, and we still have no clue what they do.

We have brothers and sisters and aunts and, yes, spouses…and we have no clue what they do.

And many of us would be hard pressed to explain what we, ourselves, do. Yes, it sounds ridiculous. But it’s also true, and it’s reflected in the last two panels of most of these memes:

• What I think I do.
• What I really do.

Do you know what you really do? I mean, do you know what you do well enough to create a meme like this for yourself? The challenge is on!