Famous Writers with Weird Jobs

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Did you know that Chuck Palahniuk worked as a bike messenger? Or that both Stephen King and Ken Kesey worked as janitors? Or that Charles Dickens labeled jars in a shoe factory? Electric Literature has a fun infographic detailing these odd jobs and more.

This should make writers of any stage feel better about the weird workplaces they’ve endured.


Kelly Lynn Thomas reads, writes, and sometimes sews in Pittsburgh, PA. Her creative work has appeared in Sou’wester, Thin Air Magazine, Heavy Feather Review, metazen, and others, and she received her MFA in Creative Writing from Chatham University. She is hopelessly obsessed with Star Wars and can always be found with a large mug of tea. She also runs the very small Wild Age Press. Read more at kellylynnthomas.com. More from this author →