8 Reasons to Date a Writer

New York Magazine published what I guess was supposed to be an "article" called "Don't Date a Writer" but it was more a rant about nothing than anything.  I thought to myself at first, Yeah, I have said that.  Don't date a writer....and then I read this writer's reasons why and I completely thought she was a whiner.

I write about people and experiences every day and I try to protect my muses as much as I can because that's just what you do, but I will say, this year I finally experienced being a muse or the subject of some writing and I found it a little unnerving.  To see yourself outside of your body, to hear words written about your best or worst qualities, to know that you have been so provoking that you have inspired something whether it's good or bad...it's an odd feeling, especially for me because I am usually the one writing. 

However, I would not say "Don't date a writer," in fact, I would say DATE a writer or an artist of any kind, and here are the reasons why....

1. Writers are creative.  Creative people are fun to date in many ways.  They can take something boring and flip it into something fun and interesting.  They self-stimulate, and since you are the subject of their inspiration, you just get to play back.  
2. Banter.  No one has a dirtier mouth than a writer and they make it sound pretty.  They will put a spell on you with their tongue...verbally speaking, of course. 
3. Writers are passionate. Passionate people are probably a handful and you might feel like it's hard to keep up with their excessive enthusiasm and feelings, but it is an experience, nevertheless.  
4. You will become art.  Whether you hurt us or love us, we will make you beautiful on a page.  
5. You will learn something about yourself.  Like I said, it is really weird to read metaphors about yourself that you would never have considered. I have been compared to things and thought "Whoa..." that's incredibly flattering or insanely disturbing....and even if you don't agree with the way you are portrayed, you can't deny that someone else felt that way about either you or your actions, at least in the moment that it was written.  
6. Writers are observant.  We tend to analyze the big picture and notice the little things that get dismissed because we are always writing and creating in our minds, even when you don't know it.  We don't even realize we are doing it....
7. You will be immortalized.  I am always observing and learning from the experiences and people around me.  Writers take all of that, ball it up, turn it into art, and whether it's on a piece of paper that ends up in the garbage or published worldwide, there you are...morphed into something else forever. 
8. We can communicate.  I may not be able to communicate what I want to say verbally all the time, but it will definitely come out on a piece of paper.  This means if you are in a "fight", you won't have a lot of scary confrontation.  I like to write a letter and give someone the space to read it when they want to.  Some find this annoying, but this is how we operate sometimes.