So I hate to brag, but my job is better than yours.

OK, ok, maybe that is a bit snobbish. I'm sure some of you have lovely jobs that I might envy if I heard about. I always wanted to be a horse rancher, and teachers are pretty cool too, and not much beats being a mom (which we know is a job all its own).

Still, there are a number of reasons why being a freelance writer is pretty darned awesome:

1. I can wake up whenever I want to. Just because I have obligations to various clients doesn't mean I have to do them at specific times of the day. A few meetings aside, my typical day lets me wake up and eat breakfast at noon if I want. I can also build my own schedule to take 3 hour lunches, no breaks, and work in the middle of the night if it suits me.

2. I can work overtime when I need to. Ever have one of those big projects at work, or get stuck on a call and end up going over time - only to be yelled at for going beyond your scheduled hours? Laws are great for those corporations who might work us to the bone, but hell, give a person a chance to use their momementum, not lose it. As a freelance writer, I can pull a sixteen hour day if that's what it calls for, and no one will write me up for it.

3. I can call out sick whenever I want. This is one reason I ended up in the business: I couldn't hold a regular job because I get sick frequently. Now I have the freedom to take sick days whenever I need to, and make it up whenever I want to. And if I only feel sick for a few hours, and then feel fine, no one's going to dock me for coming into work late either.

4. My job description is flexible.If I decide I want to write romance instead of non-fiction, I can do that. If I decide I get bored of writing about one thing I love, I can go write about another thing I love. My experience carries and lets me enjoy the diversity of the world I live in - I don't have to go back to school and get a new degree or start from the bottom and work my way up again.

5. I get to do what I love. This, of course, is the crowning piece in any perfect job. Writing is in my blood, and now I can do it any hour of the day, for as long or as little as I want, and get recognized and paid for it.

Of course, there are some bad things about being a freelancer too, especially things like overworking yourself too hard, getting underpaid and underappreciated, and finding yourself too attached to your career. But for the problems that come with my job, I still think that it's the best one out there - and I don't miss the corporate world one bit.

Jaime Skelton is a freelance writer and columnist.  Her blog Written Wings is a fantastic resource of writing tips. She also specializes in the gaming industry, writes other non-fiction and is a poet.  Check out her professional site to learn more.

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