cassady himself wanted to become a writer, or a jazz musician, but he was not a success at either. he tried to take saxophone lessons, but did not stay with them very long. he mostly worked as a laborer or a brakeman on railroads, before and after "on the road" was published. some of what he did write was published as a memoir, titled "the first third", but it was his only book. he was more successful at writing letters to friends. one was about his seductions of different women during a train trip. he recorded long talks with kerouac and carolyn, about their lives and thoughts, and parts of these went into a later book by kerouac, titled "visions of cody". ("cody pomeray" became cassady's new fictional name, as kerouac changed publishers.)