I was just an ignorant bum who read a
lot libraries to stay out of the rain
you know mostly day labor jobs and flop
houses and then after years of hustling
I finally managed to weasel my way into
a job on the Sports Desk of a local
paper in Northern California which was a
dream it's just the only problem was I
didn't know how to write I mean I could
read okay but to actually type out
sentences the spelling and punctuation I
didn't know anything newspaper
businesses could be a problem yeah the
city editor found it particularly
amusing when I spelled the word maybe ma
B e he called me a liar and then he
fired me what did you do well I I knew
that I wanted to be a writer
and the only thing I could do was go and
beg for my job back so after about three
days of begging he finally said okay
fine you have two weeks no pay hey maybe
you can learn to be a writer so I worked
with neighbor during the day and then at
night I stayed typing over here short
stories I copied them word for word told
me how to type it taught me it taught me
the English language you taught me
spelling and grammar and how to write
dialogue taught me how to see changed my
life