You forget Skeeter.
I've spoken/corresponded with several people who knew many of the different writers back in the day. The same story tends to repeat, that the real person wasn't necessarily the guy that came across in print. That's just people being people. Some were really dull in person but interesting in print, others were far more boisterous or depressing in person than in print, some were not at all pleasant to speak with, some were drunks, some had a screw loose. IOW- people. I used to want to be a writer, pictured myself out there fishing and gunning, like Joe Brooks, Tom MacNally, Ted Trueblood or maybe even Elmer or O'Connor. Now I look at it and consider what the pressure of being able to produce a monthly column that was interesting and informative must be like. No wonder there are so many of these guys that stretch the truth, reuse the same photos, go on canned "hunts", etc. Yeah, it'd be great to be the guy in the picture with the Fedora and pipe and 3 lbs Brookie caught on a 4 wt rod with a 9x leader or in the duck blind with a limit of Mallards retrieved by your trusty Lab, but how do you turn that into a monthly, or more, job that pays the bills?!!! Sounds like WORK to me!
I have seen it written that one should make their hobby their job.....at first blanch it seemed like a good idea. I think one should be careful what they wish for. I would hate to turn my hobby into work.
When I was forced out of the fire service on a disability, I started my own company. It was terrible; writing proposals, doing the job, hiring qualified people and then trying to get the money out of clients. After three years I closed shop and became an employee of my best customer. I got to just do what I liked (Hazardous Materials response and instruction/training) and they ran the business part.
I heard it in terms of "vocation" and "avocation". If you can make your avocation your vocation, you'll be happy. That of course forced me to look up the definition of avocation, which was probably the goal of the English teacher that threw that at me. Well, it's not exactly dead nuts accurate. You probably stand a better chance of being happier, but there are no guarantees. I'm doing it, I'm far happier than I was wiping peoples a......noses for a living for sure, but everything comes at a cost.
Haz Mat. Ah, the memories. Few good ones!
Yep, I did about 3,000 meth labs back when Bevis and Butthead were cooking dope. Can't complain, worked about 10 years on those and made enough to really help my retirement!Haz Mat. Ah, the memories. Few good ones!
Well, B+B are still alive and cooking up here...
