You’ve hear of Eva Tanguay, right? The singer everybody is talking about? The highest salaried variety star in the United States?
Oh wait. It’s not 1914, so you haven’t. She was a household name in the early 1900s. In 1914, Variety called her “The girl who made vaudeville famous.” (The History of Vaudeville, Anthony Slide)
Many of us who write and create want to touch as many people as possible. We imagine fame as lasting indefinitely; yet even history’s most well-known figures eventually become jokes, vague references, or sources for Halloween costumes. The others end up like Eva, who was celebrated during her time, yet died poor and forgotten.
My point: it’s important to find the joy in creation. Love what you do.