A book signing sounds glamorous -- and they can be. But they can also be lonely affairs -- if you're not Stephen King, which I am not, or Norman Rockwell, which my illustrator is not, either. Mr. Rockwell has been dead these many years, and Mr. King is probably home in Maine, counting his millions. That operation could take him a long time. Me, I could dispatch mine in minutes.
Best not to compare yourself with people who are richer than you are, or more successful. And it's mean-spirited to compare yourself with those who are less so. That leaves only you, then. You're only competing with yourself.
And maybe you're not even doing that. Who has to be better or richer than anyone, even than oneself at a different stage in life from the one in which one lives and moves at present? Nobody. It's enough just to have created something. That's the goal. Hardly any writers or artists support themselves by means of their art alone... ask your waiter what he does in his spare time, next time you're in a restaurant. He may be a lot more interesting than you knew.
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