S.M. Carrière . com
Connect:
  • Home
  • About
  • Titles
    • Daughters Of Britain
    • Dear Father
    • Ethan Cadfael: The Battle Prince
    • Human
    • Skylark
    • The Dying God & Other Stories
    • The Seraphimè Saga >
      • The Summer Bird (v.1)
      • The Winter Wolf (v.2)
    • Your Very Own Adventures >
      • Skara Braens
      • Sky Road Walker
    • WIP Updates
  • Art
  • Other Projects
    • Editing Services
    • Charity Efforts >
      • Gàrradh nan Leannan
      • Have a Heart Campaign
    • Journal
    • Martial Arts
    • Silver Stag Entertainment
    • The Adventures of Grimglum the Nord
    • SMC Awkwardly Plays
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Art Prints
  • Contact

Success?

4/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Good morning, Readers!
Picture
Image courtesy of realbusinesstalk.com. Click for link.
On the weekend, I went out to dinner with the Amazing Flatmate. It was lovely to sit and talk about stuff over dinner.  We talked about everything, from the sad tale of Scottish adventurer John Rae, to the shenanigans Rome got up to in Britain and the Netherlands (shenanigans is wildly minimising the awful things Rome did), and to our dreams and how we feel about where we are in life at present.

Of course, the topic of success came up.

To me, the Amazing Flatmate is wildly successful.  She can support herself working in the field she wants, in the city she wants.  She's walked the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival.  She's in demand.  Frankly, I'm quite jealous of the levels of success she has achieved.

Of course, she doesn't really see it as success, for various reasons I won't get in to.

It made me think long and hard about what success is, or means.  For example, I've had a couple of small successes this year already, chief amongst them a radio interview and reading for ChiSeries.  Still, I would not consider myself successful by any measure.

Despite having written five fairly well-received books, I'm still entirely unable to support myself with my work, and am, in fact, working two jobs (four if you include my writing and my YouTube stuff) in an effort to make this life function.

I'm frequently burnt out from working, seem to live in a constant state of frustration, and feel otherwise impotent.  All of this is often overwhelming, and I have days where I am paralysed by my situation, unable to do anything but cry, or stare into space.

What can I say? It's a hard road sometimes.

That, of course, begs the question, what do I consider success?  That's a difficult question to answer.  For now, I would consider myself successful if I was able to support myself with my work as an author and artist. Naturally, should I ever achieve such success, the goal posts would shift.  I would reach for a loftier goal (say, being a guest of honour at various conventions or something like that, or perhaps receiving an award for my writing), and likely not consider myself successful until I get it... at which time the goal posts would shift again.

That is the nature of success, really.

I think it is perfectly normal for the definition of success to vary according to the person, and even vary in that person's life according to the stage they're in.

Would I ever be satisfied?  Likely not.  I don't think this is a bad thing.  It's merely a drive for improvement, using markers to judge that improvement.  It's not even about material gains.  There's something else that drives me, and it's less about money than you might think. I think other creatives understand.  Don't get me wrong, having money is great, and I would certainly be glad about having more of it, but it actually isn't the primary driver.

Even though I would use it as one of those ever shifting goal posts that is my measure of success.

​So folks, here's a question, what do you consider success?

Ciao!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    S.M. Carrière, a Celtic Studies enthusiast, writes fiction.  And this blog.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    Book Reviews
    Events
    Gaming
    Human
    Life
    Rants
    Reading
    Seraphimè Saga
    Seraphimè Saga
    Skylark
    Television
    Training
    Travels
    Writing
    YouTube

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly