Khana

In our Sprachpraxiscourse, we had to introduce ourselves, what we study, and maybe a spechial feature about us to remember us by.
'I'm Johanna,' I said, 'I study German and English for Magister, I'm from Hamlin - you know, with the Rattenfänger - and in my free time, I write.'
'What do you write,' the teacher (I'm not sure about the correct english word for Dozent) wanted to know.
'Short stories, mostly,' I said.
'Have you published anything yet?'
'No.'
'Have you thought about publishing?'
'Uhm... maybe?'

Why is it that when you tell someone that you write, they instantly want to know if you are published? I mean, you can have dozens of hobbies - painting, sports, anything, really - and no-one will ask you if you want to be a professional tennis-player, if a gallery has shown your work yet. But as soon as you tell them that you write, they want to know if its professionally. Why? It's just a really quite normal hobby!

[And I am quite proud to have a hobby like that. That way, in stupid introductory rounds, I have something... meaningful to say, not just 'hanging out with friends', 'shopping', or something along those lines.]