You know you're a writer if ...

1. You hear an NPR reporter say, "brickmaking in Pakistan," and you think: Wow! That would be a great title for a book. "Brickmaking in Pakistan."
   


2. You notice grammatical errors on billboards.
   


3. You want to fix grammatical errors on billboards with red spray paint.
   


4. You hear the woman in front of you at Starbucks say, "no love lost," and you think: Wow! That would be a great title for a poem. "No Love Lost."
   


5. You think in copy. (If I need to explain this, subtract two from your final score.)
   


6. You think of Thomas Wolfe when someone says, "You can't go home again."
   


7. You understand literary references even when the people who make them don't.
   


8. You hear a child at a funeral say, "I have tears in my heart, but I just can't get them to my eyes," and you write that down immediately, because it's perfect.
   


9. You can write it down immediately, because you always carry a notebook and pen.
   


10. The notebook you always carry is a Moleskine. (You get two extra points for this. And you get three extra points if you notice that I just messed up the parallel structure of my numbering by not starting this with You ... )
    
    There is no special reason for this post. It just wrote itself in my head during a long drive in the rain last week. I think in copy. I think in headlines and paragraphs. I think in book titles.
    
    I think I'm not alone.