Perk #2 - People actually think because I can write a novel, I am an intelligent person. This is not necessarily the case. I have found that I am on the fairly dumb side, especially when it comes to finding my reading glasses or the car in a parking lot. Of course, saving the bears distracted me. I wandered around the parking lot for 15-minutes pushing a shopping cart full of melting ice cream. I try to look on it as exercise.
Perk #3 - When together with a bunch of strangers at a gathering and we need to make inane, mindless conversation before the hors d'oeuvres arrive, I can throw in the bit about being a writer. This usually stops people in their tracks. but ratchets up the conversation. They think of J.D. Salinger, Jane Austin, or Steven King. I think of the arrival of shrimp cocktail. Sometimes one or two trapped people actually like murder mysteries. This means I can give them a bookmark and hope they go to Amazon to get one of my books. Add another 1/2 perk for this.
Perk #4 - I get to do what I love. Hmm. Let's make that Perk #1.Happy New Year to all my fellow authors and readers. We may be crazy, but we are doing what we love to do. There's a lot to be said for that.
