Even though he lived only fifty-one years, a milestone I passed a few years ago, he sold some five hundred novels, created the character Dr. Kildare, sold from twenty-five to thirty million words of fiction under nineteen pseudonyms, yet he thought himself a failure as a writer?

There are types of success, of course. I’ve been happily married for thirty years, and that’s a success. I’ve helped raise three boys who are now happy, educated, honest, productive men, and thats a success.

Writing? I’ve haven’t won the Nobel, I’ll never make as much money as J. K. Rowling, but I’ve sold a few novels, a bunch of short stories, and some essays that I’m proud of, and that ain’t easy, folks.

I guess I take my notion of occupational success from my Grandpa Solomon. He was a carpenter, and the thing that made him happiest in his old age was knowing that many of the homes he built were still standing, still being lived in, and would be for many years to come.

Money and fame be hanged. If something I write is still standing when I die, if some world I create is still being lived in, I’ll be one happy man.

Nice stuff in there, Karen. Thanks.

As for your corporation question, I don’t think I’ll write a long piece on it, since I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not always in command of the facts on corporations and taxes–at least not enough to give advice.

That said, it might benefit you to talk to an attorney about this. A corporation might be a good idea at a certain level of income–about the point where U.S. taxes start taking 30-35% It varies from person to person, circumstance to circumstance, and state to state, so it’s always better to talk to someone in the know. The attorney you consult with should set up corporations routinely and should have done so for people in the arts.

I hope the short answer helps. And thanks.

I have a business question for you for perhaps a future article, or just a one-off. I’m an independent consultant as my day job (a lot of it is writing content, so I consider my passion for writing a good complement to what I do for the real money until I make writing pay for me.) I have had fifteen different opinions from people inside and outside the biz on whether it is sensible for me to create a corporation to house my freelance/consulting/contracting work. It would be a corporation of one, since I have no specific intentions of starting my own consultancy, that’s not how I envision spending my time.

Do you have any perspective on this? Pros/Cons? I’m in the position of having the “second” career in the family. I don’t need to create a structure under which I can purchase health insurance or that sort of thing. Does this work differently for freelance writers? I feel like it would be a headache, and there are some costs associated with it (though cost-benefits in terms of tax writeoffs, though for me they are not significant and I can take many of the writeoffs even while self-employed as an independent consultant.)

As for my definition of success…my running joke with my writer’s group is that I want to be so successful that I have to move because my fans found where I live and are camping on my front lawn. 😉

I also really love the difference you and Dean taught us between goals and dreams. Now I define my successes in terms of goals (things I can control, like how much I write in a year) rather than dreams (things that aren’t in my control, like winning awards).

Oh, marvelous, Mary! Thanks. Great ways to look at success, Lyn. Good stuff, y’all.

The French in Petit LaRousse Illustré start with two simple words: happy result.

I like that definition. It makes success internal to he who is successful. To be sixties about it, success is whatever turns you on, man.

I wonder if other cultures/languages have different definitions.