John Grisham – What I've Learned

John Grisham Writer, 67, Charlottesville, Virginia

- By Brian O'Keefe

I DON'T WEAR SOCKS except in January.

MY FIRST REAL JOB was in a nursery, watering rosebushes for a dollar an hour. It was the most boring job in the world. But I was taught to be there promptly on time. Take the lunch break properly on time for thirty minutes. Work eight hours. Those are great lessons for a twelve-year-old kid.

WHENEVER WE MOVED TO A NEW TOWN, our first stop was the local First Baptist Church to join. But the second stop was the local library to see how many books we could check out.

MY FATHER WAS ALL FOR the Vietnam War. Gotta go fight the commies wherever you find them, you know? Well, as I got older and I approached the age of eighteen, the war was not over. And he got quieter.

I PLAYED ONE YEAR OF JUNIOR COLLEGE BASEBALL. And I sat the bench. So I went to a bigger school down the road and tried out. In the fall of 1974, I walked on at Delta State University. And I got cut. It was time to give that dream up.

YOU KNOW HOW BOYS ARE. We're stupid. Looking back, I wish I had gone to a school as a freshman and stayed in one place for four years and got the full dose of college life. Didn't work out that way. No regrets-especially, you know, fifty years later.