Snippets
i am assuming that a lot of people who read this site do not write their own work for a living, meaning, their income is predominantly the result of another job. what have other jobs taught you about writing? i worked at a daycare and i learned that even a book someone may want to hear read to them day after day is still not as important as juicey juice and graham crackers and a table full of your friends. i worked as a house painter and i learned that thinking long term is depressing and to focus on just doing small things right. i have learned working with customers at other jobs that each individual’s problem is almost always him or herself, but his or her life manifests as a series of outward aggressions. working at a pizza place i learned my boss was a dick and that some people hate you so much they don’t even need a two week notice. these are pretty cliched lessons but i am posting this because i like to know what other writers (not necessarily famous) do or did for work. also, since there are more writing programs at colleges, (maybe) it has become easier to do something related to writing for a living. how does this type of job impact writing? i can’t tell if this is a good or interesting article. the school across the street from my apartment just had a three hour recess beginning early in the morning so i feel demented.
I work in IT. I live in a cubicle. It has taught me loathing, which I think manifests in my writing.
I work in IT. I live in a cubicle. It has taught me loathing, which I think manifests in my writing.
i was a housekeeper cleaning hotel rooms. i have learned that germans and japanese people are the cleanest, most organized, and best tippers (you basically don’t need to clean the rooms). americans are gross, like piss n’ shit in the bathroom, food on the carpet, and condoms on the lampshade. i hope this doesn’t seem anti-american, i’m just recounting my experience. everybody else from everywhere else in the world (canada, saudi arabia, argentina, etc.) are pretty unremarkable in this matter. it’s funny that the germans and japanese were enemies during WWII, cos they were my allies in rooms 100 – 121.
i was a housekeeper cleaning hotel rooms. i have learned that germans and japanese people are the cleanest, most organized, and best tippers (you basically don’t need to clean the rooms). americans are gross, like piss n’ shit in the bathroom, food on the carpet, and condoms on the lampshade. i hope this doesn’t seem anti-american, i’m just recounting my experience. everybody else from everywhere else in the world (canada, saudi arabia, argentina, etc.) are pretty unremarkable in this matter. it’s funny that the germans and japanese were enemies during WWII, cos they were my allies in rooms 100 – 121.
Phone sex did wonders for my writing. It taught me that everyone secretly wants something fucked up in their sex life.
Phone sex did wonders for my writing. It taught me that everyone secretly wants something fucked up in their sex life.
list o jobs since you asked and i heart you in a gay and non gay way (but more towards the gay):
computer/audio technician for cable commercials(i didn’t learn much)
graveyard clerk at a convenience store (i learned about theft, strippers, drunks and meth/heroin addicts)
graveyard janitor at fred meyers (i learned that the women’s bathroom is fucking disgusting)
various telemarketing (i learned this is the lowest rung of hell and people are fucking nuts)
sold drugs (a litany of shit)
existed several years off of hacked (stolen) credit cards & shoplifting. (he CC’s i would use to order pizza for pickup and a couple times olive garden, (shoplifting taught me that corporate america is my enemy and i am very good at stealing and returning things)
stole cars(i learned various criminal specifics)
worked in a factory grinding the ends of springs (i learned wearing proper respiratory apparatus is key even if it is annoying. i used to cough up a cup full of metal shavings every morning after the shift)
technical support(i learned people are petty and bean counters love bullshit metrics)
information technology(various levels to my current awesome position in corporate hell. i learned corporate america is disgusting and the new cotton fields of america. i continue to learn base and horrible lessons in human depravity and selfishness)
i am leaving some shit but who cares.
that’s the gist.
list starts in 93.
peace.
list o jobs since you asked and i heart you in a gay and non gay way (but more towards the gay):
computer/audio technician for cable commercials(i didn’t learn much)
graveyard clerk at a convenience store (i learned about theft, strippers, drunks and meth/heroin addicts)
graveyard janitor at fred meyers (i learned that the women’s bathroom is fucking disgusting)
various telemarketing (i learned this is the lowest rung of hell and people are fucking nuts)
sold drugs (a litany of shit)
existed several years off of hacked (stolen) credit cards & shoplifting. (he CC’s i would use to order pizza for pickup and a couple times olive garden, (shoplifting taught me that corporate america is my enemy and i am very good at stealing and returning things)
stole cars(i learned various criminal specifics)
worked in a factory grinding the ends of springs (i learned wearing proper respiratory apparatus is key even if it is annoying. i used to cough up a cup full of metal shavings every morning after the shift)
technical support(i learned people are petty and bean counters love bullshit metrics)
information technology(various levels to my current awesome position in corporate hell. i learned corporate america is disgusting and the new cotton fields of america. i continue to learn base and horrible lessons in human depravity and selfishness)
i am leaving some shit but who cares.
that’s the gist.
list starts in 93.
peace.
pumping gas taught me how to deal with people, which i think if you can’t do in real life you can’t replicate on the page. it also taught me that for some reason women get very un-inhibited and frisky at gas stations. i still don’t fully understand why, but i had no complaints.
being a mechanic’s shop bitch taught me i could control my temper, and also stand up for myself… another thing i think comes in useful when dealing with writing.
i can’t think of a damn thing i learned while painting houses, other than that there are some lonely people out there who will find any reason they can to get some company.
doing construction in the arctic taught me more than i’ll ever learn anywhere else. life is fucked up, no one has an answer.
running a children’s bookstore has taught me that grownup books deserve illustrations, and that apparently all kids books involve absent parents in some way.
pumping gas taught me how to deal with people, which i think if you can’t do in real life you can’t replicate on the page. it also taught me that for some reason women get very un-inhibited and frisky at gas stations. i still don’t fully understand why, but i had no complaints.
being a mechanic’s shop bitch taught me i could control my temper, and also stand up for myself… another thing i think comes in useful when dealing with writing.
i can’t think of a damn thing i learned while painting houses, other than that there are some lonely people out there who will find any reason they can to get some company.
doing construction in the arctic taught me more than i’ll ever learn anywhere else. life is fucked up, no one has an answer.
running a children’s bookstore has taught me that grownup books deserve illustrations, and that apparently all kids books involve absent parents in some way.
working at a bar taught me about male and female bathroom tendencies. one time i walked in after knocking on the women’s door numerous times. when i got inside, this lady was standing in an open stall, wiping herself. then she crumpled up the tp and threw it at me and went, “it’s a swan.”
Working for a living – in jobs that generally require some element of writing – has taught me to hate the phrase ‘spoon-feeding’. Guiding a reader is good. Spoon-feeding is not.
Working for a living has also taught me that there really aren’t enough hours in a day, and that I need to get by on less sleep. A lot less sleep.
working at a bar taught me about male and female bathroom tendencies. one time i walked in after knocking on the women’s door numerous times. when i got inside, this lady was standing in an open stall, wiping herself. then she crumpled up the tp and threw it at me and went, “it’s a swan.”
Working for a living – in jobs that generally require some element of writing – has taught me to hate the phrase ‘spoon-feeding’. Guiding a reader is good. Spoon-feeding is not.
Working for a living has also taught me that there really aren’t enough hours in a day, and that I need to get by on less sleep. A lot less sleep.
Enjoy all that comes with this work. Real world blows.
Enjoy all that comes with this work. Real world blows.
I was a hostess at a sushi place for a while and realized watching people people chew raw fish and rice while jibber jabbering is really, really gross; especially if fifty people are doing it at once. This made me self-conscious about getting food on first dates for a while. These days, I’d still rather go to a place that has sit down Galaga, pinball and cold beers.
I worked at a family gas station for a year by a bunch of farms and factories. This is where my favorite compliment: “You’d make a hungry bulldog jump off a meat truck!” was born. Once someone asked to see my papers there too, to imply that I’d be great for breeding. I learned how to mop a floor in that place without making the floors smell like mildew the next day and wrote a lot, since the environment was so unusual and nothing really took from away my thoughts. I loved it there actually.
I was a hostess at a sushi place for a while and realized watching people people chew raw fish and rice while jibber jabbering is really, really gross; especially if fifty people are doing it at once. This made me self-conscious about getting food on first dates for a while. These days, I’d still rather go to a place that has sit down Galaga, pinball and cold beers.
I worked at a family gas station for a year by a bunch of farms and factories. This is where my favorite compliment: “You’d make a hungry bulldog jump off a meat truck!” was born. Once someone asked to see my papers there too, to imply that I’d be great for breeding. I learned how to mop a floor in that place without making the floors smell like mildew the next day and wrote a lot, since the environment was so unusual and nothing really took from away my thoughts. I loved it there actually.
I was a bartender at a pool hall where everyone was either addicted to or dealing methadone or oxycontin. I learned a lot about depravity and compassion there. Working three nights a week paid more money weekly in tips than my other job working 40 hours as a pharmacy technician for $11 an hour. I was fired from the pharmacy job shortly after for “insubordination.” After that I decided I’d never work for a corporation again.
I was a bartender at a pool hall where everyone was either addicted to or dealing methadone or oxycontin. I learned a lot about depravity and compassion there. Working three nights a week paid more money weekly in tips than my other job working 40 hours as a pharmacy technician for $11 an hour. I was fired from the pharmacy job shortly after for “insubordination.” After that I decided I’d never work for a corporation again.
gutting fish taught me how to gut fish.
gutting fish taught me how to gut fish.
I park cars at an obnoxious beach front “resort.” I’ve learned that some people think they’re the only people who exist.
I park cars at an obnoxious beach front “resort.” I’ve learned that some people think they’re the only people who exist.
Caddying at a golf course taught me that golf totally sucks. On a more positive note, working at a movie theater taught me that, even when it’s free, watching Master of Disguise starring Dana Carvey still sucks.
Caddying at a golf course taught me that golf totally sucks. On a more positive note, working at a movie theater taught me that, even when it’s free, watching Master of Disguise starring Dana Carvey still sucks.
i worked as a short order cook and learned to smoke cigarettes so that i could take a break
worked at a 7-11 and learned to steal money & cigarettes & food
worked at a newspaper and learned that i fucking hate everything, including writing, but especially journalism, editorial boards, journalists, email / fax, phone calls, and the news / current events
worked at a different restaurant and learned that everyone who works in restaurants anywhere wants / is a writer / artist / actor
did some data entry and learned to hate myself a little more with each column
worked for a repossession’s agency and learned lots of things about cars and trucks and very little about writing
i never worked at a book store, but i imagine that if i did work for a bookstore i would probably begin to appreciate books less and less each day
i worked as a short order cook and learned to smoke cigarettes so that i could take a break
worked at a 7-11 and learned to steal money & cigarettes & food
worked at a newspaper and learned that i fucking hate everything, including writing, but especially journalism, editorial boards, journalists, email / fax, phone calls, and the news / current events
worked at a different restaurant and learned that everyone who works in restaurants anywhere wants / is a writer / artist / actor
did some data entry and learned to hate myself a little more with each column
worked for a repossession’s agency and learned lots of things about cars and trucks and very little about writing
i never worked at a book store, but i imagine that if i did work for a bookstore i would probably begin to appreciate books less and less each day
being an attorney has taught me how to stay organized and write things quickly, under deadline. also it’s taught me to respectfully be a dick, something i try to think about writing.
bagging groceries for years taught me how fucked up the owners, baggers, cashiers, deli guys, and customers are fucked up in countless ways.
being an attorney has taught me how to stay organized and write things quickly, under deadline. also it’s taught me to respectfully be a dick, something i try to think about writing.
bagging groceries for years taught me how fucked up the owners, baggers, cashiers, deli guys, and customers are fucked up in countless ways.
i forgot a fucked up in the second paragraph.
i forgot a fucked up in the second paragraph.
i jerked off in the women’s bathroom once just to do it.
i am a weirdo like that.
i jerked off in the women’s bathroom once just to do it.
i am a weirdo like that.
I worked as a wine steward/server at a slightly upscale rest. that happened to also be located in a mall. People thought they we so cool just by eating there.
They were still just in a freaking mall. Geez.
I worked as a wine steward/server at a slightly upscale rest. that happened to also be located in a mall. People thought they we so cool just by eating there.
They were still just in a freaking mall. Geez.
I worked as a foot messenger in New York. That taught me where every alley, shortcut, air-conditioned lobby, lush atrium, cheap gyro, and artificial waterfall in Midtown was. In essence it neurally tattooed midtown Manhattan onto my brain. I write a lot about cities…
I worked as a high school English teacher for a long time. That got me a high school English education. It also showed me that I wanted to be doing the assignments rather than grading them. The “creative” ones, that is.
I worked as a brewery tour guide. That taught me how to sound like an authority even if it was a fiction.
I work as a psychiatric counselor. That’s been good for hand-eye coordination. It’s also taught me more about people than I can possibly say.
I worked as a foot messenger in New York. That taught me where every alley, shortcut, air-conditioned lobby, lush atrium, cheap gyro, and artificial waterfall in Midtown was. In essence it neurally tattooed midtown Manhattan onto my brain. I write a lot about cities…
I worked as a high school English teacher for a long time. That got me a high school English education. It also showed me that I wanted to be doing the assignments rather than grading them. The “creative” ones, that is.
I worked as a brewery tour guide. That taught me how to sound like an authority even if it was a fiction.
I work as a psychiatric counselor. That’s been good for hand-eye coordination. It’s also taught me more about people than I can possibly say.
cashier at Grand Union – Lesson: creepy old nuns and alcoholics like to hang out at Grand Union, and it’s very easy to get a job at the same store where you were once caught shoplifting.
telemarketing – Lesson: telemarketing is cult-like and gross
delivery at Domino’s Pizza – Lesson: A 2-door ’85 Chevy Caprice, while great for smoking pot in, sucks on snowy roads.
grounds maintenance/lab assistant/janitor/secretary/reservoir security at the Passaic Valley Water Commission – Lesson: You can get away with anything if you know the right people, including crashing a company car into a swamp.
delivery at Southwest Burrito – Tinny merengue for an entire workday can make you fucking crazy and the people with the most money are the shittiest tippers.
food prep/dishwasher at The Doll’s Place – Restaurant people are fucking crazy.
truck driver’s assistant – NVC Logistics – Truck drivers are fucking crazy and a truck cab is a good place to read Don Quixote.
cashier at Grand Union – Lesson: creepy old nuns and alcoholics like to hang out at Grand Union, and it’s very easy to get a job at the same store where you were once caught shoplifting.
telemarketing – Lesson: telemarketing is cult-like and gross
delivery at Domino’s Pizza – Lesson: A 2-door ’85 Chevy Caprice, while great for smoking pot in, sucks on snowy roads.
grounds maintenance/lab assistant/janitor/secretary/reservoir security at the Passaic Valley Water Commission – Lesson: You can get away with anything if you know the right people, including crashing a company car into a swamp.
delivery at Southwest Burrito – Tinny merengue for an entire workday can make you fucking crazy and the people with the most money are the shittiest tippers.
food prep/dishwasher at The Doll’s Place – Restaurant people are fucking crazy.
truck driver’s assistant – NVC Logistics – Truck drivers are fucking crazy and a truck cab is a good place to read Don Quixote.
painting houses–
that a supervisor can somehow get you to paint about eight houses with only one other person in your crew, including prep work, for ultimately, less than 300 dollars.
painting houses–
that a supervisor can somehow get you to paint about eight houses with only one other person in your crew, including prep work, for ultimately, less than 300 dollars.
the only job i have ever had was almost two years ago at an organic grocery store called earth fare. i was a cashier. i learned that most people who eat organic food are wealthy and stuck up. i learned that working in a grocery store is very boring. i learned that being fake will get you places. i learned that i hated being fake, so i cleaned bathrooms whenever i could. i learned that being in solitude even if you are cleaning up piss and shit is beautiful.
the only job i have ever had was almost two years ago at an organic grocery store called earth fare. i was a cashier. i learned that most people who eat organic food are wealthy and stuck up. i learned that working in a grocery store is very boring. i learned that being fake will get you places. i learned that i hated being fake, so i cleaned bathrooms whenever i could. i learned that being in solitude even if you are cleaning up piss and shit is beautiful.
haha! pretty much. or send you off to do “touch-up” work at a site, only to find that by “touch-up” they meant, all the inside walls.
haha! pretty much. or send you off to do “touch-up” work at a site, only to find that by “touch-up” they meant, all the inside walls.
Concession stand—the mating habits of normal, outgoing, well-adjusted teenage peers in the summertime. Also, how to run a cash register, which would unfortunately be a valuable skill.
Rural Gas Station- everyone has a story, how to mop, truck drivers are the only nice people at 6 am. How to stuff a newspaper.
Nursing Home Kitchen- I love the crazy, and how awful aging is, how dirty life is. And the residents gave me an infinite number of small insights and personal stories to remember.
Retail jobs- Why I cannot and should not sell things, why I hate corporations and insincerity and customers.
Office jobs- How to work a copy machine, fax machine, MS Office, type, how doing nothing can be exhausting, how to make coffee grounds last. Also, working in a police station office gave me a lot of stories.
University hotel- How badly run these places can be. How to get the best room. How to fail at taking charge in a terrible situation (was working on campus during a shooting, which I guess is less job-related and more just situational)
Public Library- People are completely crazy, and it is super nice to help someone find information they are looking for. Also, I am getting closer to having the dewey dec. system memorized.
Concession stand—the mating habits of normal, outgoing, well-adjusted teenage peers in the summertime. Also, how to run a cash register, which would unfortunately be a valuable skill.
Rural Gas Station- everyone has a story, how to mop, truck drivers are the only nice people at 6 am. How to stuff a newspaper.
Nursing Home Kitchen- I love the crazy, and how awful aging is, how dirty life is. And the residents gave me an infinite number of small insights and personal stories to remember.
Retail jobs- Why I cannot and should not sell things, why I hate corporations and insincerity and customers.
Office jobs- How to work a copy machine, fax machine, MS Office, type, how doing nothing can be exhausting, how to make coffee grounds last. Also, working in a police station office gave me a lot of stories.
University hotel- How badly run these places can be. How to get the best room. How to fail at taking charge in a terrible situation (was working on campus during a shooting, which I guess is less job-related and more just situational)
Public Library- People are completely crazy, and it is super nice to help someone find information they are looking for. Also, I am getting closer to having the dewey dec. system memorized.
I’ve worked in a mall bookstore, and a department store photography studio, and then had my own photography business. Mainly what these things taught me is that the real world is dull and I would rather make things up. Now I am a mom/student/writer/volunteer, so I am basically juggling a multitude of non-paying jobs.
I’ve worked in a mall bookstore, and a department store photography studio, and then had my own photography business. Mainly what these things taught me is that the real world is dull and I would rather make things up. Now I am a mom/student/writer/volunteer, so I am basically juggling a multitude of non-paying jobs.
i’ve learned that jobs are bad and work is good and it’s goddamn hard to get them to meet.
i’ve learned that jobs are bad and work is good and it’s goddamn hard to get them to meet.
amen
amen
that last line would make a great first sentence.
that last line would make a great first sentence.
I agree.
I agree.
I like what you just said.
I like what you just said.
blood trails. girls leave blood trails. I was a night janitor at an Elks Lodge.
blood trails. girls leave blood trails. I was a night janitor at an Elks Lodge.
I was briefly an associate pastor for eighteen months out of college, and the experience provided material for my first major publication (In Random House’s Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers) and served as the catalyst for a culmination of a lifetime’s worth of the kind of dissonance and pushback that made me want to be a writer in the first place and which gave me something (I hope) to say.
I was briefly an associate pastor for eighteen months out of college, and the experience provided material for my first major publication (In Random House’s Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers) and served as the catalyst for a culmination of a lifetime’s worth of the kind of dissonance and pushback that made me want to be a writer in the first place and which gave me something (I hope) to say.
[the sad thing about life is]
by frank o’hara
The sad thing about life is
that i need money to write poetry
and If I’m a good poet
nobody will care how I got it
and If I’m a bad poet
nobody will know I got it
[the sad thing about life is]
by frank o’hara
The sad thing about life is
that i need money to write poetry
and If I’m a good poet
nobody will care how I got it
and If I’m a bad poet
nobody will know I got it
basically every job i’ve ever had has given me either material for writing or the kick in the ass to write more in the hopes of making it as a writer, so as to never have to do this shitty job again.
sometimes jobs give me both.
examples of these include:
envelope stuffer
manual laborer
phone answerer in a basement
submissions rejector at a prominent magazine
basically every job i’ve ever had has given me either material for writing or the kick in the ass to write more in the hopes of making it as a writer, so as to never have to do this shitty job again.
sometimes jobs give me both.
examples of these include:
envelope stuffer
manual laborer
phone answerer in a basement
submissions rejector at a prominent magazine
it’s also funny that their companies own all of ours.
it’s also funny that their companies own all of ours.
Some writers I admire have taken the time to immerse themselves in an occupation not their own for the purpose of knowing things and bringing them back to their work, the end result being a real enrichment of the work. I’m thinking of what hanging out with cops has done for Richard Price in the making of novels like Clockers, Lush Life, Samaritan, etc., or what hanging out with elderly glove factory employees or jewelers or kosher butchers (American Pastoral/Everyman/Indignation) has done for Philip Roth. In addition to what such knowledge enables the writer to bring to the table in the way of verisimilitude-making (for writers whose work is concerned with verisimilitude or believes in it or uses it to productive ends, anyway), the language particular to different occupations can itself be hugely pleasurable (think of the talk cops talk in Price, or the naming of glove parts in American Pastoral), and like any special language can offer the writer opportunities to traffic in the figurative (think of what the work with blood at the kosher butchery in Indignation enables Roth to get away with at story’s end, when the reader realizes that the blood itself has become a secondary framing device, and that we’re in the realm of an older storytelling tradition than psychological realism, despite what the exterior surface of the sentences would lead the reader to believe.)
For me, one benefit of having writing-related employment (right now, university professoring, although I hope against all evidence that the writing alone will one day support me and my family), is that it gives me time to go hang out where other people work and learn what they learn while working where they do. Over the last eighteen months, because of the needs of the projects I’m trying to finish, this has meant frequent trips to Haiti, where I’ve spent a lot of time with a truck driver, the director of an orphange, law enforcement types, mechanics, and missionaries. Sometimes it seems like the writing-related results these immersions are yielding are secondary to the pleasure of entering into a world of the daily to which I would not otherwise have access.
Some writers I admire have taken the time to immerse themselves in an occupation not their own for the purpose of knowing things and bringing them back to their work, the end result being a real enrichment of the work. I’m thinking of what hanging out with cops has done for Richard Price in the making of novels like Clockers, Lush Life, Samaritan, etc., or what hanging out with elderly glove factory employees or jewelers or kosher butchers (American Pastoral/Everyman/Indignation) has done for Philip Roth. In addition to what such knowledge enables the writer to bring to the table in the way of verisimilitude-making (for writers whose work is concerned with verisimilitude or believes in it or uses it to productive ends, anyway), the language particular to different occupations can itself be hugely pleasurable (think of the talk cops talk in Price, or the naming of glove parts in American Pastoral), and like any special language can offer the writer opportunities to traffic in the figurative (think of what the work with blood at the kosher butchery in Indignation enables Roth to get away with at story’s end, when the reader realizes that the blood itself has become a secondary framing device, and that we’re in the realm of an older storytelling tradition than psychological realism, despite what the exterior surface of the sentences would lead the reader to believe.)
For me, one benefit of having writing-related employment (right now, university professoring, although I hope against all evidence that the writing alone will one day support me and my family), is that it gives me time to go hang out where other people work and learn what they learn while working where they do. Over the last eighteen months, because of the needs of the projects I’m trying to finish, this has meant frequent trips to Haiti, where I’ve spent a lot of time with a truck driver, the director of an orphange, law enforcement types, mechanics, and missionaries. Sometimes it seems like the writing-related results these immersions are yielding are secondary to the pleasure of entering into a world of the daily to which I would not otherwise have access.
I’d be interested in knowing how or if any writers around here who aren’t working in the naturalist mode may or may not be making use of these kinds of reconaissance tactics and bringing them back to their work. When I read Peter Markus, for example, I see evidence in the language of an acquaintance with the natural world and the work that hands (and fish) do, that may or may not rise entirely from firsthand experience. Or when I read Brian Evenson, I often think that the ghost of learned things informs the making of the disturbing surfaces that are so pleasurable and which yield such figurative and linguistic riches. Even writers whose work seems to be primarily about language often root the language particular to this story or that in a subset of the special language that belongs to this guild or that, or it least it often seems this way to me as I read.
I’d be interested in knowing how or if any writers around here who aren’t working in the naturalist mode may or may not be making use of these kinds of reconaissance tactics and bringing them back to their work. When I read Peter Markus, for example, I see evidence in the language of an acquaintance with the natural world and the work that hands (and fish) do, that may or may not rise entirely from firsthand experience. Or when I read Brian Evenson, I often think that the ghost of learned things informs the making of the disturbing surfaces that are so pleasurable and which yield such figurative and linguistic riches. Even writers whose work seems to be primarily about language often root the language particular to this story or that in a subset of the special language that belongs to this guild or that, or it least it often seems this way to me as I read.
i am also curious how many writers have never had a job. like justin taylor has he ever had a job?
that is not me being a shit talker. i am curious.
i am also curious how many writers have never had a job. like justin taylor has he ever had a job?
that is not me being a shit talker. i am curious.
I worked at a frozen custard place, where I learned why Americans are so goddamn fat.
I worked as a used car salesperson, and learned that used car salespeople really like to rip off migrant workers. I did not learn how to sell a car, apparently, since I never did. I was really bad at ripping off people. At this job I also learned that many people just start companies to make money, and they don’t really care what kind of companies they start, which is amazing to me. They like to name their companies things that start with AA, so they will come first in the phone book.
I worked as a nude model for an art class, and I learned that it’s really easy to fall asleep in front of people when you’re naked, as long as there are a lot of pillows and a space heater.
I worked in a children’s bookstore, and I learned that if you are 5′ 2”, you will be the person wearing the Berenstein Bear costume. I also learned that there are a lot of people who think that reading is something you do when you’re a kid, and that you just kind of grow out of books.
I worked at a cosmetics counter, and learned that selling middle-aged women anti-aging products is the easiest job in the world. I learned also that people are at their nastiest when commission is involved, and that if you say there’s gold leaf or space extract in the anti-aging cream, people will pay 500 dollars for it. For realz.
I worked as an actor, and learned that you don’t make any money working as an actor.
I worked as a market researcher, and learned that people fucking hate taking phone surveys. Like, they really hate it. And I learned not to take rejection personally, which has been very helpful in my writing, actually.
I worked at a Hallmark, and discovered that Americans have way, way too much money, and spend it on the dumbest crap you can imagine. And that that’s okay, because who the hell am I to say those little statues of kids doing adult things are crap, if they make you happy?
I work at a labor union now, and I have learned there is a whole world out there that is so different from mine I can barely even fucking fathom it. And I have learned how lucky I am.
I worked at a frozen custard place, where I learned why Americans are so goddamn fat.
I worked as a used car salesperson, and learned that used car salespeople really like to rip off migrant workers. I did not learn how to sell a car, apparently, since I never did. I was really bad at ripping off people. At this job I also learned that many people just start companies to make money, and they don’t really care what kind of companies they start, which is amazing to me. They like to name their companies things that start with AA, so they will come first in the phone book.
I worked as a nude model for an art class, and I learned that it’s really easy to fall asleep in front of people when you’re naked, as long as there are a lot of pillows and a space heater.
I worked in a children’s bookstore, and I learned that if you are 5′ 2”, you will be the person wearing the Berenstein Bear costume. I also learned that there are a lot of people who think that reading is something you do when you’re a kid, and that you just kind of grow out of books.
I worked at a cosmetics counter, and learned that selling middle-aged women anti-aging products is the easiest job in the world. I learned also that people are at their nastiest when commission is involved, and that if you say there’s gold leaf or space extract in the anti-aging cream, people will pay 500 dollars for it. For realz.
I worked as an actor, and learned that you don’t make any money working as an actor.
I worked as a market researcher, and learned that people fucking hate taking phone surveys. Like, they really hate it. And I learned not to take rejection personally, which has been very helpful in my writing, actually.
I worked at a Hallmark, and discovered that Americans have way, way too much money, and spend it on the dumbest crap you can imagine. And that that’s okay, because who the hell am I to say those little statues of kids doing adult things are crap, if they make you happy?
I work at a labor union now, and I have learned there is a whole world out there that is so different from mine I can barely even fucking fathom it. And I have learned how lucky I am.
I worked in a sewerage. It taught me you can’t even take a shit without exploiting someone and that people doing that job deserve way more money than anyone working in an office.
I worked in a sewerage. It taught me you can’t even take a shit without exploiting someone and that people doing that job deserve way more money than anyone working in an office.
jereme, what do you mean by job? teaching at a large university is a job. justin teaches at a large university
jereme, what do you mean by job? teaching at a large university is a job. justin teaches at a large university