The Job Interview

I was twenty-three, fresh out of college, and desperately broke. I had applied to forty-seven jobs and received three rejection letters and forty-four silences.\n\nThe forty-eighth application was for a position at a marketing firm. I didn't even want to work in marketing — I wanted to be a writer — but I was out of options. I showed up in a suit that was too big (borrowed from my roommate) with a resume that was too thin.\n\nThe interviewer was a woman named Patricia. She asked me a question I wasn't prepared for: "What do you actually want to do with your life?"\n\nI froze. "I want to write," I said finally. "I want to tell stories that matter."\n\n"Then why are you here, applying for a job you don't want?"\n\n"Because I need to pay my rent."\n\nShe smiled. "I hired a writer once, fresh out of college. She worked for me for two years, saved up enough money, then quit to write a novel. That novel became a bestseller."\n\nShe hired me. I worked there for eighteen months, saved every penny, then quit to write. My third novel found an audience.\n\nPatricia retired last year. I sent her a copy of my latest book with a note: "Thank you for asking the right question."