Jamie, your stories about your lack of so-called "real experience" get me all worked up! But I'm sort of worked up today, anyway. :) Still, those are perfect illustrations of how ridiculous these social definitions of "real" and "useful" are. You are working hard to define all of those things for yourself, though, so you will be just fine. More than fine. (Btw, your compliment has given me fuel for days, I think! It means a lot, particularly coming from you.)

Barbara, oh, I can so relate! Don't get me started! As a freelancer, I often feel like people just assume I can drop everything, whenever. If you wear jeans and work from home or sit in a cafe rather than in a real office, you clearly don't have real deadlines or make real money. It's a difficult misconception to fight.