Redemption Book

But for some, the American Dream is about giving up that comfortable, reliable job and writing the Great American Novel.

I had already written two novels, so when I quit my previous job as an editor last year, I focused on finishing a biography. I had been researching my labor of love, Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley for several years. It was time to finish it.

I tried not to be nervous. As Marley once sang "Don't worry, 'bout a thing."

Leaving any 9-5 job — or 8 a.m. - 11 p.m. job — can be an intimidating, exhilarating proposition. In doing so, one gives up regular paychecks, job security, health benefits, possibly stock options and bonuses — and for what?

If you’re doing it to write a book, the chances are you’re doing it for nothing. Most books don’t sell, because most people don’t read a lot of books.

I once saw a statistic on how much the average author earns from his writings each year. I wish I could remember that stat and share it with you here, but the number was so disturbingly low, I have repressed it in my memory, along with the details of death of my first dog and a blind date I had freshman year in college (it involved zydeco music and bicycles).

"I consider writing a book to be a job. Unfortunately, few other people do."

One of the toughest things about leaving a job and writing a book is that nobody quite takes the move seriously.

I consider writing a book to be a job.

Unfortunately, few other people do.

No matter how large your advance, no matter how serious or interesting your subject, people seem to scribble “author” in their minds onto a list of fantasy professions, like astronaut, lion tamer, and wizard.

People talk about doing such things when they’re kids. They boast that they will do them in college. But then everyone goes into pre-law or pre-med or pre-professional something. Nobody goes into pre-posterous. No one starts planning trips to Mars, housebreaking lions or casting hexes. And nobody writes books fulltime.

I’m not even certain guys like John Updike really write fulltime. I think if you followed him around one day, you’d find that, after hours, he’s secretly in some dive, earning meal money by dancing round a pole. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’m thinking.

When you’re writing books fulltime, the looks you get from neighbors at parties speak volumes — sometimes more eloquently than the volume you’re actually working on.

You say “I’m finishing a book.”

Their eyes say “What are you really doing?”

Sometimes you wonder that yourself.

I found inspiration in the life I was writing about.

Almost everyone knows Bob Marley, the reggae star.

But few people know that at one point, frustrated by his stalled music career, he moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and took a variety of odd jobs.

One of them was working at the Chrysler Newark Assembly Plant in Newark, Delaware. He worked in the body shop. He drove a forklift and transported materials to workers on the assembly line.

He later quit the job and returned to Jamaica, embracing his destiny as a reggae star and international icon of peace.

I’ve finished writing his biography now, and I’ve embraced my destiny as an editor for a publication that just happens to be my favorite newspaper in the world. And my book is due out May 1st.

As Marley once sang, "Everything's gonna be alright."

In my research for the book, I found people were more willing to talk to me because they knew that my commitment to the book was absolute. This wasn't a side project. It wasn't a project at all. It was my life. There was no net.

I've found that, because I gave everything I had to write this book, people that read it find that it has a lot to give to them. As Marley once sang in “Redemption Song:” “We’ve got to fulfill the book.”

I hope I’ve fulfilled mine.

Thanks, Bob.

Christopher John Farley is an editor of the "Marketplace" section of The Wall Street Journal and is the author of Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley. (Amistad/HarperCollins)