You have to start somewhere, right?

Making a living as a writer is not an easy task, even for the most talented writers. Many famous authors didn’t enjoy instant success, and instead had to toil away at rather unglamorous day jobs before the world got wind of their genius.

In fact, some authors spent their entire lives in menial jobs whilst writing in their spare time, and it was only after their death that they received acclaim for their work.

So if you’re an aspiring writer (or aspiring anything) slogging away at a day job, take heart. Stephen King was once a high school janitor and John Grisham a plumber. Yet because of their persistence, they became prolific and much loved authors, finding inspiration from jobs that seemed like dead ends.

The Expert Editor created this great infographic that details the unlikely day jobs of 20 famous writers.