Craig Davidson, a.k.a. Nick Cutter, on the dirty job he didn't get

Craig Davidson is the author of award-winning fiction like the Scotiabank Giller Prize–shortlisted novel Cataract City. Under the pen name Nick Cutter, he writes popular thrillers of the scary, bloody variety, including his latest, The Acolyte. Before he was writing books under either of these names, though, he held a number of odd jobs, (almost) including this one:

I went into an interview to be a worm harvester, which sounded like a lot of fun! Basically I was going to be picking through giant tubs of earth, picking out fat, wriggly night crawlers for bait shops. And the man who interviewed me asked one question: whether I had a pair of rubber boots. I was not wearing them at the interview, but I assured him that I could get a pair of rubber boots. And he looked me up and down, and said, "We'll call you." I remember walking out and thinking to myself, "I can't believe it, but I guess I am not worm harvester material." And that was a damning, damning conclusion to come to about oneself.

Craig Davidson's comments have been edited and condensed.