As far as phobias go, a fear of debt probably isn't the worst. I don't know how I came by mine. It wasn't a disorder that touched the lives of any other member of my family. My parents, bless them, paid for me to go to college, and after that I was on my own.

就恐惧症而言，害怕负债大概并不是最糟糕的。我不知道我是如何患上这种病症的，我家里其他人的生活都没有受到这种病症的影响。我的父母（愿上帝保佑他们）为我支付了大学学费，大学毕业后我就自力更生了。

I was a teaching assistant in graduate school, baby-sat on the side and lived on something my roommate and I called pizza toast. I didn't have a car or a credit card. Once a week I borrowed the neighbor's vacuum. It wasn't a bad life. I was never afraid of low-paying jobs, small apartments or secondhand furniture, but I was terrified of getting in over my head. To that end, as my career progressed, I didn't take advances on books I hadn't written. The idea of owing my publisher was no more palatable than the idea of owing Citicard.

在读研期间，我担任了助教，还兼职替人照看孩子，以被我和室友称为匹萨吐司的食物为主食。那时我没有车子，也没有信用卡，每周我会借用一次邻居的吸尘器。那种生活并不算糟，干着一些工资很低的工作、蜗居在小公寓还有使用二手家具都没有让我害怕过，但我却害怕做超出自己承受能力的事情。出于这一原因，随着我的事业渐有进展，我也不预支我还没有写的书的稿酬。对我来说，拥有一张花旗信用卡(Citicard)的想法跟拥有自己的出版社的想法一样地不切实际。

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