Nobody would say Jack London had a boring life. To him, that was precisely what made it worth living.
At 39, he wrote:
I have had a very fortunate life, I have been luckier than many hundreds of millions of men in my generation have been lucky, and while I have suffered much, I have lived much, seen much, and felt much that has been denied to the average man. Yes, indeed, the game is worth the candle.
In just the first twenty of his (eventual) forty-six years, he worked in various stints in a cannery, as a window-washer, watchman, shoveling coal, and as a seal fisherman.
At one point, he was even an oyster pirate.
The kicker?
London almost got caught so he turned coat, hunting his former pirate colleagues as a member of the government fish patrol.
Mind you, this was all before he turned 19.
At that point, he then went north to Canada during the Klondike gold rush.
Upon returning home, after a period of hard work, London added writer to his long resume.
Jack London's life was full of "and’s".
He was never just a writer.
In fact, he couldn't have been a writer if not for those other experiences.
Most of his most famous works were because of his failed attempt to strike gold in Canada.
Finding the path toward where you want to go often takes a lot of detours.
I've taken my own strange path to become a writer.
It was something a little like this
Paper pusher > Magician > Clerk > Student > Unemployed> Baker > Bartender > Sales Support > Email Marketer > Marketing Ops > Writer
In advising young writers, London writes to:
Find out about this earth, this universe; this force and matter, and the spirit that glimmers up through force and matter from the maggot to Godhead. And by all this I mean WORK for a philosophy of life.
It does not hurt how wrong your philosophy of life may be, so long as you have one and have it well.
The three great things are: GOOD HEALTH; WORK; and a PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE. I may add, nay, must add, a fourth—SINCERITY. Without this, the other three are without avail; with it you may cleave to greatness and sit among the giants.
I'm not saying go out and become an oyster fisherman…
(mostly because, well, climate change), but go experiment, even in small ways.
Start something you suck at. Read something you have no idea about.
You might find the experience leads you down a path you don't expect, and, while your path may be meandering, you may find it leads you to exactly where you want to be.
I’ll close on an inscription London wrote on a copy of his autobiography, The Road:
“And who knows what Romance, what Adventure, what Love, is lurking around the next turn of the road, ready to leap out on us if we’ll only travel that far?”