Dear Booklover, P.J. O'Rourke said, "Creative writing teachers should be purged until every last instructor who has uttered the words 'Write what you know' is confined to a labor camp...The blind guy with the funny little harp who composed The Iliad, how much combat do you think he saw?" Like O'Rourke, William Faulkner had his own take on the Other Commandment for writers, the one that goes, "Thou shalt not quit thy day job." Faulkner, who won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature, had, twenty-five years before, worked at the ...
Read More
Dear Booklover, P.J. O'Rourke said, "Creative writing teachers should be purged until every last instructor who has uttered the words 'Write what you know' is confined to a labor camp...The blind guy with the funny little harp who composed The Iliad, how much combat do you think he saw?" Like O'Rourke, William Faulkner had his own take on the Other Commandment for writers, the one that goes, "Thou shalt not quit thy day job." Faulkner, who won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature, had, twenty-five years before, worked at the post office in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. Mister Faulkner was known to say, "One of the saddest things is that the only thing a man can do for eight hours, is work. You can't eat eight hours a day, nor drink for eight hours a day, nor make love for eight hours." He must have been determined to give something else (writing, we may assume, perhaps a glass of whisky on the side) a whirl when he tendered his resignation to the postmaster. "I reckon I'll be at the beck and call of folks with money all my life," he said, "but thank God I won't ever again have to be at the beck and call of every son of a bitch who's got two cents to buy a stamp." The authors in this book have tried their hands at some of the same jobs you have held, or still keep. They've worked on the railroad, busted rocks with a sledgehammer, fought fires, wiped tables, soldiered and carpentered and spied, delivered pizzas, lacquered boat paddles, counted heads for the church, sold underwear, and, yes, delivered the mail. They've driven garbage trucks. And like William Faulkner they have quit those day jobs. And like Faulkner they write. These authors tell good tales. If you wonder what work preceded their efforts to produce a great pile of books, if you would like to know how they made the transition to, as William Gay said, "clocking in at the culture factory," then this is the book you've been waiting for. Sonny Brewer, Editor Fairhope, Alabama.
Read Less
Add this copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day to cart. $4.97, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by MP Publishing.
Add this copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job Acclaimed Authors and the Day to cart. $22.00, like new condition, Sold by Mostly Useful Fictions rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Commack, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by MP Publishing Ltd.
Add this copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job Acclaimed Authors and the Day to cart. $25.00, like new condition, Sold by Reed Books rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Birmingham, AL, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by M P Publishing.
Add this copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day to cart. $25.67, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by MP Publishing.
Add this copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day to cart. $53.31, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by MP Publishing.
Add this copy of Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day to cart. $54.17, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by MP Publishing.
