“I determined there was a great future in the mail-order business, and I landed a job that brought me to the head of a large department. About this time our daughter Joan was born.
Having a good job and every prospect for advancement, I decided to go into business for myself, with harrowing results. I had no capital when I started and less when I got through. At this time the mail-order company offered me an excellent position if I wanted to come back If I had accepted it, I would probably have been fixed for life with a good living salary. Yet the chances are that I would never have written a story, which proves that occasionally it is better to do the wrong thing than the right.
When my independent business sank without a trace, I approached as near financial nadir as one may reach. My son, Hulbert, had just been born. I had no job, and no money. I had to pawn Mrs, Burroughs' jewelry and my watch in order to buy food. I loathed poverty, and I should have liked to have put my hands on the man who said that poverty is an honorable estate. It is an indication of inefficiency and nothing more. There is nothing honorable or fine about it. To be poor is quite bad enough. But to be poor without hope … well, the only way to understand it is to be it.”

— Edgar Rice Burroughs

How I Wrote the Tarzan Books (1929)

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Edgar Rice Burroughs 76

American writer 1875–1950

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted (1994)
Context: And the college business: My parents wanted me to go, I didn’t want to go, and I didn’t go. I got what I wanted. Those who don’t go to college have to get jobs. I agreed with all this. I told myself all this over and over. I even got a job—my job breaking au gratin dishes. But the fact that I couldn’t hold my job was worrisome. I was probably crazy. I’d been skirting the idea of craziness for a year or two; now I was closing in on it.

“There are jobs I could work, temp jobs, call center jobs, tech support, if I had to. I have before, and I suspect that there will be times in my life when I have to get those jobs again, when I have to make ends meet. But I don't have another career waiting for me. I don't want another career.”

Joey Comeau (1980) writer

Interview with Hamilton Chu, Video Game Maker.
I Am Other People

“When I decided to write a novel, I had two full time jobs and three children under the age of six, so I don’t want anyone telling me they don’t have time to write a book, but I learned to work in the middle of the night, and I still do that…”

Diana Gabaldon (1952) American author

On balancing novel writing with her personal life in “Diana Gabaldon on Her ‘Outlander’ Writing Process & Knowing Sam Heughan Was Jamie” https://collider.com/diana-gabaldon-outlander-interview/ in Collider (2018 Aug 2)

“With the success of my first story, l decided to make writing a career, though I was canny enough not to give up my job. But the job did not pay expenses and we had a recurrence of great poverty, sustained only by the thread of hope that I might make a living writing fiction. I cast about for a better job and landed one as a department manager for a business magazine. While I was working there, I wrote Tarzan of the Apes, evenings and holidays. I wrote it in longhand on the backs of old letterheads and odd pieces of paper. I did not think it was a very good story and I doubted if it would sell. But Bob Davis saw its possibilities for magazine publication and I got a check … this time, l think, for $700.”

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) American writer

How I Wrote the Tarzan Books (1929)

“General Sullivan granted me leave to come here upon the business of my department. I expect to return in a few days. Major Gibbs is with me, and is going to Portsmouth. This is the third letter I have wrote since I have had a line from your Excellency. Should be glad to hear from you when at leisure.”

Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) American general in the American Revolutionary War

Letter to George Washington (September 1778)

“I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty… But I am too busy thinking about myself.”

Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British poet

As quoted in The Observer (30 April 1950)

“I grew up always wanting to be an artist, and it was in high school when I started to really like writing. I was a junior in high school thinking about what I wanted to do with my life and I thought it would be great if I could find a job in which I could both draw and paint … and write which was this new thing that I loved. And I thought children's picture books would be the perfect job for me. It was a great combination of those skills and that's when I decided that's what I wanted to do.”

Kevin Henkes (1960) American children's illustrator and writer

Some Kids' Books Are Worth The Wait: 'They Do Take Time,' Says Kevin Henkes https://www.npr.org/2015/09/22/442521229/some-kids-books-are-worth-the-wait-they-do-take-time-says-kevin-henkes (September 22, 2015)

“The man that owned the company that I worked for called me into the office and said how can you be on our payroll and have your own New York Times ad! This has to stop! And I said but it can't I have orders to ship. And he said well you're fired. And that's how I started my business.”

Anna Sui (1964) American fashion designer

CNN Interview (July 31, 2004)

“It's not a new thing but maybe people have started noticing me more now. It's a good change for me and everyone else. I have always enjoyed dressing up but I don't do it as often as I would want to, because it's time consuming. But now, especially when I have to go for fancy promotional visits, I try to enjoy the process of letting the make-up and hair people do their job.”

Shreya Ghoshal (1984) Indian playback singer

Telling about dressing http://www.timesofindia.com/entertainment/hindi/music/news/A-song-is-remembered-for-an-actor-in-our-country-Shreya-Ghoshal/articleshow/21367792.cms?

“When I won the competition, I had just been offered a job as a designer in Düsseldorf, so that’s probably what I’d be doing now. It can be fascinating to consider how your life might have turned out, like in the movie Sliding Doors, but I’m too busy to look back.”

Heidi Klum (1973) German model, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and actress

Discussing what she would have done if she didn't win a modeling contest at age 19. Quoted by Elisabeth Braw, Metro World News, Canada http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/entertainment/article/446299--talking-healthy-hearts-with-heidi-klum.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs 76

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