I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the
　　job that I did was dull.
　　雖然我是英語(yǔ)文學(xué)專業(yè)畢業(yè),但是我沒(méi)有底要做什么工作.畢業(yè)后的六年時(shí)間里,我行尸走肉地工作掙錢(qián).我嘗試過(guò)作記者,但是我覺(jué)得不好,然后改行作金融,后來(lái)也不歡而散.最后我在一家著名的出版公司擔(dān)任法律顧問(wèn).盡管工作比較枯燥,但是我喜歡和圖書(shū)打交道.
　　I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.
　　當(dāng)我有足夠的積蓄可以休假一年,我決定實(shí)現(xiàn)我內(nèi)心深處的愿望完成一部小說(shuō).參加MA小說(shuō)創(chuàng)作課程讓我明確了寫(xiě)作框架,我完成了55000個(gè)字.
　　It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a navel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.
　　開(kāi)始創(chuàng)造確實(shí)需要信心——在你猶豫不決的時(shí)候,生活是一片黑暗.當(dāng)你出去吃飯,別人問(wèn)你在忙什么,你會(huì)不好意思說(shuō),我最近在寫(xiě)小說(shuō),但是我不確定我可以完成.想到我的小說(shuō)沒(méi)法出版,我的信心越來(lái)越弱了,我便把寫(xiě)書(shū)這事拋在九霄云外了. Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel
　　隨后我遇見(jiàn)了一個(gè)代理商,他告訴我應(yīng)當(dāng)把書(shū)寄給他們機(jī)構(gòu).我如實(shí)做了.讓我感到驚訝的是,我得到了一些很好的反饋.我突然覺(jué)得有希望,有一天我成為了一名作家.簽約后,我完成了后半本的寫(xiě)作.
　　The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.
　　然后的問(wèn)題是找到一個(gè)出版商.在過(guò)去的兩年半沒(méi)有收入的漫長(zhǎng)等待和思考中,一個(gè)
　　出版商結(jié)束了我的困境,后來(lái)成為了我效力的出版商.
　　It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding（有回報(bào)的）.
　　這像是命運(yùn)中難以想象的運(yùn)氣.當(dāng)你決定要做一件不同尋常的事時(shí),也許你看不到希望,但是找到自己準(zhǔn)確的位置,比如成為一名簽約作家,你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這些漫長(zhǎng)的等待是有回報(bào)的