Journal 1984: Overcoming Asthma and Changing Careers

By Joseph Sutton

Journal 1984: Overcoming Asthma and Changing Careers is the 13th yearly journal written by San Francisco author Joseph Sutton. While teaching high school English in 1984, Sutton contracted asthma. This yearly journal of 6300 words shows how he overcame that dreaded disease and why he had to quit teaching. To keep supporting his family, he became a salesman. But he never forgot his true calling of returning to writing again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joseph Sutton
• Release date: May 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224376421

Joseph Sutton

Joseph Sutton was born in Brooklyn and raised in Hollywood. He played football at the University of Oregon and graduated with a degree in philosophy. He earned a teaching credential and a degree in history at Cal State University Los Angeles and taught high school history and English for many years. Sutton, who has been writing for more than 50 years, has published over two dozen books. His essays and short stories have appeared in numerous national magazines and journals. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Joan.

Book preview

JOURNAL 1984

Overcoming Asthma and Changing Careers

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by

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Joseph Sutton

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Copyright 2024 by Joseph Sutton

All Rights Reserved

Description

Journal 1984: Overcoming Asthma and Changing Careers is the 13th yearly journal written by San Francisco author Joseph Sutton. While teaching high school English in 1984, Sutton contracted asthma. This yearly journal shows how he overcame that dreaded disease and why he had to quit teaching. To keep supporting his family, he became a salesman. But he never forgot his true calling of returning to writing again.

Table of Contents

Prologue

January

February

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Epilogue

Biography

Contact

Prologue

Before I began my writing career, I taught history at an inner-city high school in Los Angeles for three years.  I moved to Berkeley in 1969 at the age of 29 to begin working on a novel, A Class of Leaders, about a history teacher who allows his students to teach.  After finishing my novel in 1973, I tried to get it published but it was rejected many, many times.  My next writing project was a novel about my travels around the country in 1974 in a VW bus.  I settled in Portland, Oregon, and began working on Highway Sailor.  To support myself, I became a substitute teacher.

In 1977 I moved to San Francisco to finish Highway Sailor.  I soon met my future wife, Joan Bransten, a single mother living with her six-year-old son Sol.  While sending Highway Sailor to publishers, I started substitute teaching in the secondary schools of San Francisco.  Like my first novel, all I received were rejections.  In 1979 Joan and I got married and in 1981 our son Raymond was born.  I had sold short stories and articles over the years, but it surely wasn't enough to support a family.  The year Raymond was born, I started hustling for as many substitute and long-term substitute jobs I could get.