Perks of the Job

There have been times in my life where I was convinced that I wanted to be a professional writer. I've started more novels than I can count, I've invented characters and plots that I still manage to believe are brilliant, and I've committed hundreds of thousands of words to paper or to silicon that will never, ever be seen by anyone by me. In the end, I always go back to doing what I do well--and that pays the bills reasonably well.

The blog (and the few reviews that I've done for Blogcritics.org) are an outlet, then, for those other grand ambitions that always lurk in the back of my mind. They acts as a sanity check--the thing that keeps me from dumping my job and embarking on what would surely be a ruinous path to alcoholism and despair when all of my manuscripts and stories are returned with the sound of editors' laughter ringing in my ears.

Or, maybe that's just me.

Now Shawn goes and makes me want to run off and join the circus again (at least, in a bad metaphor kind of way). Macomber interviewed P.J. O'Rourke for a recent piece. P.J. O'Rourke is a personal favorite. His Give War a Chance is one of my all time favorite reads. His Modern Manners made me the wonderful party guest that I am today.

All of which is a long-winded way for me to say just how jealous I am.

“It’s true that Europeans, despite often overbearing governments, do have a way of minding their own business about other people’s personal lives,” he said, laughing. “Unless you’re Jewish or something.”

Yep. I feel the siren call of ink-stained fingers (and all the requisite boozing that goes along with the romantic view of the writing life).

Thanks, Shawn.

Click through to read the interview.

Posted by zombyboy at July 16, 2004 09:45 AM | TrackBack