• feel stupid when you can't come up with something as creative than your co-workers.
• like to hang out with your right-brained friends because then you're the "wild one."
• aren't concerned with losing your job because it's such a piss-poor field you know they would be doing you a favor.
• understand where the term "starving artist" derived.
• talk in "headline speak" for grins and shits.
• correct your chuch bulletin with a pen during the service or mark up any newsletter that comes in the mail while you're on the phone.
• insist on explaining to everyone where the grammar mistakes are in any publication or sign.
• actually understand the use of: it vs. it's; your vs. you're; effect and affect; and the use of commas, semicolons and colons.
• hope you don't get an assignment that requires a lot of driving because your car might break down.
• enjoy reading your dictionary and quizzing your co-workers and friends.
• read an e-mail several times before sending it and making at least three editing changes.
• you are pressured into making a list because two other journalist-types already have.
• when playing Scrabble, you go for the word that is the most impressive, rather than the highest scoring.
• you kept all the books you read in college but haven't touched them since.
• when you point out that someone made a grammatical error, your significant other just nods wearily and says, "Yes, dear."
• you deride your reporters' stupidity silently every time you find a mistake.
• you hear about a murder on TV and sigh with relief when you realize it's not in your "coverage area."
• you are bothered by the fact that you can't come up with anything clever enough for a list about what writers/journalists actually do.
• mock incorrect grammar while allowing yourself any and all "creative" uses. You are, in fact, a professional.
• are able to attribute your misspellings such as "independance" or "milenium" to your editor's lack of skill. It's the whole point of having editors, right?
• have ever figured out how much more income you could bring in as manager of Taco Bell.
• have been prescribed at least three different anti-depressants have seriously considered joining the peace corps but couldn't for fear of being stationed nowhere near a Gap.
• you like to eat out but don't order wine or appetizers because you can't afford it.
• you have ever spent more than three hours in a cafe and used your debit card to pay for your $1.69 grande coffee.
• ...you feel that your submission to this site deserves a byline.

By Debbie Sigan, Dennis Laycock, Johnny Diloretto and Mark Davidson

Edited by:  Thomas Powell