Most writers have had to hold jobs in the real world to get bills paid and put food on the table. They have to learn how to live with the separation between a working life and creative life. One of my favorite characters in literature is Wemmick of Great Expectations, who has had to learn this lesson. He is office manager for the Overwhelmingly Supreme Lawyer, Jaggers. In his work day Wemmick keeps crowds of supplicants away from his employer, takes orders from Jaggers, and possesses the only key to the office safe. While he does these duties, his mouth is held square according to Dickens, like a "post box" where one mails letters. As Wemmick travels home to Wandsworth after his work day, the square "post box" mouth changes into a friendly soft grin. He lives on a little island in Wandworth where he takes care of his elderly father called "Aged P." The old man, wrapped in a rug, sits by a fire and listens to the cannon being shot off by his son. Every night when he hears the cannon he calls out: "I heered it." A divided life and a lesson not easily learned.