1. My Google history is cool, listing everything from, “can a dead body explode?” to “how to jump off a burning train.”
2. It is a great excuse to be a recluse and nobody suspects that I am a serial killer.
3. It is okay to drink, in fact, it makes me more authentic if I do.
4. No matter what I get caught doing, I can just say, “I’m a writer, gathering material.” It works every time.
5. People think I am really intelligent when I tell them I am a writer.
6. I can get away with dressing a little different.
7. For instance, showing up to work in my underwear.
8. It is okay that I talk to myself.
9. My chances are increasing, that one day, I’ll be the one autographing skin.
10. I get to reveal everyone’s secrets, without them even knowing it.
What are your perks for being a writer?
Erin Cole 
Erin, in my experience, Number 5 seems to work best for me – I once told someone I was a proletariat writer…they were amazed, wondered how I got to work for the Government!!
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Great list – I'm all about #4 (although I live in a world filled with variations of #2). What I love about being a writer is that when people ask me what kind of writing pays the best, I steal the line from GET SHORTY and say, "Ransom notes….". The looks I get in return border on amusement to horror….like they can't really be sure I'm kidding.I'd also add that being a writer allows me to use almost any action I take as an excuse – "I need to listen to 4 hours of music on my Ipod because it's helping me get in the mood to write", or "one of the characters in my story has a drinking problem and I need to research the local bars"…..
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Catching up here. I love this whole list, no way can I choose a favorite ALTHOUGH I'm very partial to 10.It's amazing how we can say so much in a fictional sense. In a way, it reveals everything about us.You're so cool, Erin. LOLps. THANKYOU for the pirate dictionary site. Man, the more the better. I need to write another one, my mind is so deep in ants, pheromones and sex and fables. Holy Smokes. Talk about trouble!
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Who said no-one thinks you're a serial killer? (Don't get on a plane and come kill me, that was a joke. Funny. Ha ha.)What I love about being a writer is when people that I don't really know that well tell me they read something I wrote and enjoyed it. That's very powerful, and motivating. (I write flash in an industry newspaper that's available at the local airport, so people tend to sit around waiting for their plane and read it).
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Re number 10, I like being able to reveal my own secrets to the world and have people think it's fiction ;)
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1. I have a shelf of books devoted to death and dying, cannibalism, human sacrifice and homicide case files. I get excited when I find more books like these. Nobody bats an eye except maybe the guy at the bookstore. That's when "I'm a writer" is the best response to "So what do you do?"2. My writing is a treat for me. Something I get to do on my days off. It's like going out with rowdy friends your my parents never approved of. 3. I can get away from "Being Me" for awhile. I become the mouthpiece for people way more amazing than I'll ever be and I lose myself in their worlds.4. The music and solitude. Searching for writing music has expanded my music horizons tenfold.Great blog post. Funny too!
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Hmmm perks? That's a great question. I think we have better shit detectors than most people. Being that I work for a paper, "being a writer" usually means to people at local bars that I wanna hear their stories and inevitability ask me if I wanna write about them. That's not a perk…I love your No. 3. I think that's my fave.
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I was going to write that meeting interesting people was one of the perks, but now I am scared to! LOL!You know, Erin, everything has been such an amazing adventure. I spent those 20 years wondering whether this dream could ever come true. Writing articles for a local on-line mag, blogging for myself as well as Wicked Writers; all was so unexpected. I really just enjoy the camaraderie and encouragement from the writing/reading community. With that would be the opportunity to share in their art and pursuits.Thank for asking.Have a great weekend.
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Thanks for all your juicy tidbits everyone!Marissa, Laura, Ian, Michael, Rebecca, you've thought of some great ones! Exploding live bodies and following your dreams…nice stuff.Chris, I love the idea of robbing your nightmares of power with a shitty first draft.David…you've got to get some perks or I'd fire that muse. Thanks for stopping by.
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I agree with most of these, and would add:You get to take your worst nightmares and rob them of their power completely in a shitty first draft, before bringing them back to life in order to creep other people out…Beyond that, I think Laurita's hit on one of the best.
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This is fantastic. The one about talking to yourself would be one of mine as well. :P
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Now that I'm getting old, the talking to myself thing doesn't get noticed as much. And I'm now thinking up ways to make a living body explode…
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Because when I tell people I write, they then have no fucking idea what to say and the conversation ends. I think that's hilarious.
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Yeah, I hear you on the drinking one and being a recluse. Also, you can ignore everyone else around you because you're 'working'. But my favourite is that it keeps your dreams alive…
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You get to see people's horrified faces when you tell your latest idea for a story. Better than *any* TV show, heh.
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These are fabulous, Erin! Thinking of different ways to kill people are definite perks.
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I like making scrapbooks full of novel ideas and pictures and stuff and no one thinks I'm nuts.
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Are there perks to being a writer? I need to get me some of those. Writing is just something else I've managed to cram into my life. Actual working gets in the way at the moment.Have a great weekend, Erin.
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Ha, these are hilarious. My perks are most of the above, plus:Kids forgive me when I'm cranky cuz they know I'm either working out a plot point or sad over a rejection.I get to vicariously experience sex a thousand different ways with a thousand different people.My characters never get pissed at me and are always 'there'.I like challenges.Peace, Linda
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When people ask, "What do you write??" I can say "Shit , mostly – and watch them react.I get to make people's quotes sound better than they actually were.I get lots of free tickets to stuff.People refer to me as "the media."I'm on every media list in the world and see shit in the paper that I got press releases on weeks earlier.It beats TV.
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Oh, Laurita, that deserves the number one spot. I thought of another:"I am a closet masochist, and those rejections hurt so good."
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The first one made me laugh out loud. I also like the one about being a recluse, although I'm fairly certain that my neighbors suspect I'm a serial killer. That brings up another perk: When someone annoys you during the day you can just go home and kill them on paper.
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