Louise O’Neill: 14 things not to say to the writer in your life

Louise O'Neill sacrificed a lot while writing her first book. Here's her list of the the 14 things you should never say to a published author.

I’m not sure how I expected to be treated by my friends and family once I published my first novel but I didn’t think they would all have the audacity to treat me like some kind of ‘normal’.

What was the point of all the hard work and sacrifices – I gave up alcohol and boys for an entire year and those are basically my two favourite things in life – if people didn’t understand that they should throw themselves at my feet, praising my genius?