The Kerouac Project gave me plenty, though I am not really at liberty to discuss the economics, because I don’t think everybody has gotten the same, just depending on what is happening with the project at any given time.

I can say they pay you in free rent and free utilities and free food through use of a gift card at the local super market -they do not pay you in cash. So you will need money. You need money whenever anyway right?

It’s a wonderful house, a good part of town, and if you are sugar and spice and everything nice you will feel like a bit of a celebrity in town, you will be introduced as “the writer in residence” and sometimes you will be flattered and other times you will be embarrassed, or you will be bitter with the label.

People will repeatedly ask you what you do, what you write about, and you will answer as best you can, but depending on your mood, it may not be your best.

And you will gain at least five pounds because for three months you will have cupboards and a refrigerator full of food and beer and wine.

And time will go by fast and it will go by slow and you may feel like you didn’t accomplish anything with your time, but you will have accomplished plenty one way or another and so will feel accomplished.

And if you make your contact info available people will write letters to you because they feel a cosmic bond with you because in this context you are in a cosmic bond with Kerouac and Kerouac is maybe their hero. Then you will answers the letters and maybe very very few if any will write you back because you did not have the answer they were looking for and then you might probably feel as though maybe you were rude?

And others will come by the house and take pictures and walk around the yard embarrassed a bit, and maybe you will go out and meet them and give them a tour? And they may still feel embarrassed or worried that they are being a bother because you have “work” to do, after all you are the “writer in residence”, but you won’t mind because in some way you are helping them fulfill a wish.

Then your time there will be up and you will clean the house because that is the least you can do and it will look unrecognizable again and you will sign the guest book and you will go on.

Or you can just put the “do not disturb” sign in the window and keep it there until you leave.