Everybody seems to want to be a writer. And why shouldn’t they? Being a writer is awesome!

For the sake of this post, let’s forget that to be a successful writer you need to work your ass off. Let’s put aside the hours you have to spend writing every day. Let’s pretend like it doesn’t take years and years of persistence to gain traction. And let’s sweep under the rug all the devastating rejection letters, the depressing sales numbers of those first few books, and all the other soul crushing issues that come with being a writer.

Right now we’re only going to focus on the positive aspects of being a writer – and there are tons of them. Okay, maybe not tons. I’ll admit, I didn’t weigh them out. But I did come up with 10 awesome things about being a writer. These are the things that made me want to make writing my career. And they’re the things that keep me writing, helping me to stay motivated and on track every single day.

10 Awesome Things About Being A Writer

There are lots of awesome things about being a writer. Here are just ten of them. 

1. You can make your own schedule

I’ve never been a fan of the whole nine-to-five thing. There are several reasons for this, but one of them is that I’m not exactly at my best around nine-in-the-morning. Actually, I’m not at my best at any time that ends with “-in-the-morning.”

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a night owl. Even in high school, I would stay up half the night and then sleep through my first few classes. I’ve always been more creative at night and certainly more energetic. Being a writer lets me capitalize on this.

As a writer, you decide when you write. Your employer doesn’t decide. Your supervisor doesn’t decide. You do. Sure, you can get up bright and early and write during normal working hours. There’s nothing wrong with that. But it doesn’t work for everybody and it definitely doesn’t work for me.

2. You are your own boss

“I love working my ass off everyday for a barely-livable wage to make some other asshole rich,” said no one, ever.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked at jobs that I actually liked. For over a decade, I worked with teens with special needs. Before that, I worked on an ambulance as an EMT. Still, even though I liked what I was doing, I hated working for companies run by bureaucrats who didn’t care about their employees or the populations they were serving – only about the bottom line.

And even worse is working at a job that you can’t stand. Not only are you busting your butt to make someone else rich, you hate every second of it. It’s soul crushing.

As a writer, you’re your own boss. The only person who’s benefiting from your hard work is you. The only person who can tell you what to do is you. And the person who gets all the credit when your hard work finally pays off? YOU!

3. You can write anywhere

You can just as easily write from a tropical paradise as you can from an office.

Not only can you write whenever you want, you can write from wherever you want. If you’re like me and you like to travel, this is huge. You can just as easily write from a folding chair on South Beach as you can from a chair in your office.

This was one of my biggest motivators when deciding to become a professional writer. I love to travel. As a writer, you can work wherever you are. Unlike a normal job where, even if you set your own hours, you still have to be at a specific location. As a writer, the only location I have to be at is in front of my laptop.

4. Traveling can be a tax write-off

When traveling to a writer’s conference or something else related to writing, it can be written off as a business expense. As long as the trip is somehow related to writing, it can be written off. I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of writing-related traveling in the coming years.

“Why did you go to Cancun, Ellis?”

“Research for a book.”

“I see. Then why did you spend three weeks in Miami Beach?”

“Research for a book.”

As long as it’s somehow related to writing, all vacations – oops, I mean business trips – can be tax write-offs.

5. You can write about whatever you want

Whatever genres you like to read, you can write in. Whatever subjects you’re interested in, you can write about them. There are an infinite number of things you can write about and it’s completely up to you what you want to write.

Do you want to write non-fiction books? Go for it! The non-fiction market is huge. You can make a good living writing non-fiction.

Or maybe you want to write science fiction novels? Do it up! There’s a huge market for sci-fi and other fiction.

Whatever you want to write, you can. It’s totally up to you. If you just want to focus on one subject/genre, that’s fine. Or if you want to write about/in different subjects/genres, that’s fine, too. Personally, I like mixing it up. I write both fiction and non-fiction but you can write whatever you want.

6. There’s no limit to how much you can earn

If you are dedicated and persistent, there is no limit to how much you can make as a writer. As long as you’re willing to keep improving, you can continue to grow your writing income.

I started writing professionally in 2014. Since then, my annual income has increased every year. As long as you keep at it, yours will, too. The key is that you have to continuously improve your writing, marketing, and networking.

It’s not unrealistic to make six figures a year with your writing. Some writers make significantly more. You can create a comfortable income with your writing, but you have to be willing to put in a lot of work. And it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen if you keep at it.

7. You can say, “I’m a writer/author/novelist/etc.”

When I first started making money from my writing, I couldn’t wait to tell people that I was a professional writer. It’s something I’d always wanted to call myself. Some people prefer “author” or “novelist,” but I like the term “writer.”

“What do you do?”
“I’m a writer!”

There’s something incredibly satisfying about telling people that you’re a writer. Most people find it interesting and ask a bunch of questions about what you write and stuff like that. However, I’ve found that there is a downside.

Whenever I tell someone that I’m a writer, I often get the same response that goes something like this: “I could be a writer. I should write a book about my life.” I usually just smile and nod but on the inside I’m thinking, “No you couldn’t. Not only is writing a book hard work that takes months and months of daily dedication, your life isn’t that interesting.”

Of course, I don’t say that. But everyone seems to think that they could/should write a book about their life and it would instantly become a bestseller. For 99% of people, no – just no. But I digress. In general, it’s pretty awesome being able to call yourself a writer.

8. You get to learn all kinds of interesting things

Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, at some point you’ll need to do some research. Maybe you want to write a book about a Russian double agent but don’t know anything about Russia. So, you head to Google and start researching.

Before you know it, you’re a Russian expert. You learn that Russia is over six-million square miles wide, it spans 11 time zones, and has a population of close to a-hundred-and-fifty-million people.

If you’re like me, you love learning new things. Being a writer gives you plenty of opportunities to learn all kinds of stuff you’d never learn otherwise.

9. You’ll meet a lot of wonderful people

Twitter has an amazing #writingcommunity.

Like just about anything else, you’ll need other people to help you become a successful writer. Without others, you’re just a guy/girl who put a bunch of words on a page (or screen, whatever). If you want to be successful, you’ll need to work with some or all of the following: editors, proofreaders, agents, publishers, and more.

But most importantly, you’ll need readers! You really can’t be a successful writer without them. Even if you’re introverted like me, you’ll need others to help you get to where you want to be. Fortunately, most people in the writing community are awesome.

I’ve always had a hard time reaching out to others, networking, and promoting myself. It’s something I’m still actively working on. But I’ve gotten much better at it over the past few years. And I’ve met some wonderful people in the process.

You never know where your writing will take you. I’ve met people through my writing that I never would’ve met otherwise. Keep at it and you’ll make some amazing friends over the course of your writing career.

10. You can make people happy and even change the world

There’s no limit to what you can accomplish with your writing. Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, the written word has the power to bring people joy and can even change the world.

If you want to make a difference in the world, one of the best ways to do it is through your writing. There are many examples of books that changed the course of history. Write about the things that bother you, things that you think could be better. You never know who may read it.

Or you may simply want to make people happy. Writing is one of the best ways to bring people joy or inspiration. Whether you’re writing stories that people love or inspirational non-fiction, writing has the power to make people smile – and that’s one of the greatest powers a person can have.

Conclusion

Being a writer is hard work. But it’s also pretty awesome. For me, it’s always been my dream career. Now that I’m making it happen, I couldn’t be happier.

If you’d like to read more writing-related articles, check out the writing category of my website.  

I’ve listed 10 awesome things about being a writer, but there are plenty more. What are some of the reasons that you think being a writer is awesome?

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