“Spiritually pooping”: Kurt Vonnegut on his daily routine as a novelist/teacher

“I needed the money.”

Welcome to the first issue of Subtle Maneuvers! For more about this newsletter, read the intro post.

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Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007)

The American writer held down a variety of day jobs before finally achieving success as a novelist around the time of his 45th birthday. He worked in public relations for General Electric, tried inventing a board game, lasted one day as a writer for Sports Illustrated, and managed a Saab dealership on Cape Cod (his son later called him “the world’s worst car salesman”). In 1965, Vonnegut accepted a teaching job at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. “I needed the money,” he wrote later. “I needed the stimulation. I needed the change in scene . . . It turned out to be a very bright thing for me to do. Suddenly writing seemed very important again.”