The Shadowland of DreamsAlex Haley close1RT Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there's a difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at the type-writer. "You've got to want to write," I say to them, "not want to be a writer."追梦亚历克斯·哈利很多年轻人告诉我，他们想当作家我总是鼓励这些人，但我也会解释，“当作家” 和写作是有区别的在多数情况下，这些人是在梦想名利，而不是在打字机前独自度过漫长的时间我对他们说，“你得渴望写作，而不是渴望当作家。
close2RT The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune, there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. Even those who succeed often know long periods of neglect and poverty. I did.孤独、冷清、低薪，这就是写作的现实写照幸运之神会眷顾一些作家，但数以千计的人心中的渴望永远无法满足就算是成功者，大多也曾长期无人问津、穷困潦倒，包括我close3RT When I left a 20-year career in the Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend with whom I'd grown up in Henning, Tennessee. George found me my home — a cleaned-out storage room in the Greenwich Village apartment building where he worked as superintendent. It didn't even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. Immediately I bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.我离开工作了 20 年的美国海岸警备队成为一名自由作家时，前途一片渺茫。
唯一拥有的是一个儿时的朋友乔治，他跟我在田纳西州的亨宁一起长大乔治在格林尼治村公寓看门，他在那里帮我找了间腾出来的储藏室那儿很冷，又没有卫生间，可是我不在乎我马上买了一部二手的打字机，感觉就像一个真正的作家了close4RT After a year or so, however, I still hadn't received a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that I barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn't going to be one of those people who die wondering, "What if?" I would keep putting my dream to the test — even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.然而，过了一年左右还没有时来运转，我开始怀疑自己。
作品很难卖出去，我只能勉强维持生计，但我知道，我渴望写作，多少年来我一直梦想着写作我不要像有些人一样，临死时还想，“假如······”我要坚持不懈地试验着我的梦，哪怕衣食无着，害怕失败，也决不放弃这是希望的阴影地带，每个有梦的人都必须学会在那里安居close5RT Then one day I got a call that changed my life. It wasn't an agent or editor offering a big contract. It was the opposite, a kind of siren call tempting me to give up my dream. On the phone was an old acquaintance from the Coast Guard, now stationed in San Francisco. He had once lent me a few bucks and liked to egg me about it. "When am I going to get the ＄15, Alex?" he teased.一天，我接到一个，我的一生从此改变。
不是经纪人或编辑打来要和我签一份大额合同刚好相反，这个像海妖的歌声，诱使我放弃梦想打的是海岸警备队的一个老熟人，警备队现在设在旧金山他借过一些钱给我，不时提起这件事我什么时候才能拿回那 15 块钱啊，亚历克斯？” 他揶揄道close6RT "Next time I make a sale."“等我下次卖了稿子吧close7RT "I have a better idea," he said. "We need a new public-information assistant out here, and we're paying ＄6,000 a year. If you want it, you can have it."他说，“我有个更好的主意我们这里要新招一个公共信息助理，年薪六千想要的话，这位子就是你的了close8RT Six thousand a year! That was real money in 1960. I could get a nice apartment, a used car, pay off debts and maybe save a little something. What's more, I could write on the side.一年六千！在 1960 年，那可是一大笔钱了。
我可以买套不错的房子，一辆二手车，还清所有的债，甚至还可以有点积蓄，而且我还可以在业余时间写作close9RT As the dollars were dancing in my head, something cleared my senses. From deep inside a bull-headed resolution welled up. I had dreamed of being a writer — full time. And that's what I was going to be. "Thanks, but no," I heard myself saying. "I'm going to stick it out and write."钞票在我脑海中舞动，但我的头脑蓦地清醒了从内心深处，一个固执的决定涌上心头我的梦想是要当作家，全职作家我一定要实现梦想谢谢，我不去，”我听到自己在这样说，“我要坚持写作close10RT Afterward, as I paced around my little room, I started to feel like a fool. Reaching into my cupboard — an orange crate nailed to the wall — I pulled out all that was there: two cans of sardines. Plunging my hands in my pockets, I came up with 18 cents. I took the cans and coins and jammed them into a crumpled paper bag. There Alex, I said to myself. There's everything you've made of yourself so far. I'm not sure I ever felt so low.放下，我在小小的房间里踱着步，开始觉得自己像个傻瓜。
我把手伸进壁橱（一个钉在墙上的装桔子的板条箱），拿出里面所有的东西：两个沙丁鱼罐头我把手伸进口袋，找到了 18 分钱我把罐头和硬币塞进一个皱巴巴的纸袋我对自己说，看吧，亚历克斯，这就是你的全部家当了我觉得前所未有的沮丧close11RT I wish I could say things started getting better right away. But they didn't. Thank goodness I had George to help me over the rough spots.我希望我可以说，情况马上有了好转，可是没有幸亏还有乔治帮我渡过难关close12RT Through him I met other struggling artists, like Joe Delaney, a veteran painter from Knoxville, Tennessee. Often Joe lacked food money, so he'd visit a neighborhood butcher who would give him big bones with small pieces of meat, and a grocer who would hand him some withered vegetables. That's all Joe needed to make his favorite soup.通过他，我认识了一些正在苦苦奋斗的艺术家，比如乔·德莱尼，绘画多年，来自田纳西的诺克斯维尔。
乔经常穷得连食物都买不起，所以他会去附近的一家肉店，那屠夫会给些沾着肉末的大骨头；他还去杂货店，店主会给他一些蔫了的蔬菜用这些，乔就可以做他喜爱的汤了close13RT Another Village neighbor was a handsome young singer who ran a struggling restaurant. Rumor had it that if a customer ordered steak, the singer would dash to a supermarket across the street to buy one. His name was Harry Belafonte。