The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard to become a freelance(自由栏目)writer, I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn’t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.

The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard to become a freelance(自由栏目)writer, I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn’t even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.
事实上写作是孤独、自私又少回报的事情。每个作者都靠运气，成千的人的渴望得不到回报。当我离开我干了20年的美国海岸警卫岗位而成为一个自由栏目的作者时，我根本没有前途。我所拥有的就是一个给我在纽约公寓住宅区找了一个房间的朋友，房子是否冷或没有浴室并没有关系。我立即买了一台二手的手动打字机，觉得自己就像一个真正的作家一样。