Making A Literary Life: What If We Didn't Write?

All the talk this week of other arts makes us think of the questionnaire James Lipton offers to his actor guests on Inside the Actors' Studio. Originally created by Bernard Pivot, with some credit apparently due in some measure to Marcel Proust, the questionnaire includes 10 questions that include the following;

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

and

What profession would you not like to do?

And we will add, why?

Lisa Marnell
I would have liked to be a doctor. I would have hated to be a doctor.

I love the idea. I would hate the implemenation of it in real world insurance realities (revolving-door).

Next, a singer. Believe me, if American Idol had auditions for over-thirties I would cue-up ASAP!

Amy MacKinnon
I suppose if I were smart enough I would have been a doctor. The pace, the drama, the purposefulness of it all attracts me. The worst job I've ever had and never want again is that of a waitress. When people have a little power -- customers -- they wield it cruelly.

Hannah Roveto
Beyond the wild-dream professions -- singing, if I had the voice for it, for example -- I always thought being a meteorologist would be fun, tracking weather and predicting it, not necessarily being the one to report on television. Mother Nature is so powerful and fascinating that being closer to a first name basis (Mother? Ma?) would be worth waking up for every day. As to what I wouldn't do, that's hard. There are a lot of difficult jobs (EMT, working with at-risk kids) but those would have rewards to make the challenges with it. Bottom line, anything with tarantulas would be impossible.

Lynne Griffin
Yesterday's post filled you in on my love of dance. I would've loved to be a professional dancer. Yet when choosing a college, even in the late seventies, I was directed toward nursing or teaching. I chose both. I've worked in hospital intensive care units, nursing homes and schools. Jobs I couldn't do? While Hannah loves Mother Nature, I have to say any outdoor work would eventually do me in. Living in New England, winters and summers can be extreme, I wouldn't last long outside in cold or hot temps. And no doubt I'd pull a Lucille Ball if I ever worked in a factory assembly line. Ditto on anything with tarantulas.