Writing, vocation and earning a living

 Yesterday’s note that included a quote from Jim Harrison’s memoir reminded me that Off to the Side is a strange book.

Some of it seems deliberately perverse. I’ve seen a sailor go into a bar not to get a drink but to get into a fight, and Harrison has some of that in him. But I find his reflections on the writing life interesting. Here are two remarks on vocation and the problem of making a living:

 

A poet is technically supposed to be a “thief of fire,” but as easily as anyone else he becomes a working stiff who drinks too much on late Friday afternoons.

 

The most obvious economic lesson of all becomes obvious: survival work requires your entire life.

 

Harrison’s title, incidentally, refers to the role of a writer as an observer, one who stands apart from the fray to see clearly and to report.

• Source: Jim Harrison, Off to the Side; New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002, pp 143 and 144.