Failure on my part is not necessarily failure on my part

This blog comes form the lap of luxury, and I have to say, this version of luxury has bony knees. 

Friends, I've been thinking about failure lately, as in what makes a success and what makes a failure. There's an external and internal component to it.For example take our president. As a human being, I have yet to see one redeeming character. and yet, he externally believes that he's a winner, because he wins so often. 

On the flip side, I think about other friends of mine. friends who have a stable home life, who aren't swimming in deepening pools of debt, who hold a steady job and still do their art. However, they may live in a small town and refuse to leave. They may Not have yet loft the comfort of home, No one has heard of them. 

I do have a few friends who seem like their outward success match their internal success. but really I can't tell if they are just happy and comfortable in their situation or if I don't know them well enough to know their secret failings. 

Last month, I met a hero of mine, a comic book artist, nominated for the Oscar of the comics industry: the Eisner Award. At the ceremony, he's sitting with huge names in the industry. The people on either side of him have sold 30-70 thousand copies of their nominated works, my hero had sold 750. He was so meek at the table, but as the night wore on, he realized that the other creators were in awe of him.  To be where he was, selling so few books? This guy had to be REALLY GOOD. 

As I prepare for Fringe, a festival that is meaningless if you're outside of art, or if your art is slightly different, and totally meaningful inside the art of Fringe Touring, failure and its myriad of forms take front and center of my mind. Last year, we had a list of indicators of a successful show. It was helpful because it allowed us to put how the show was doing in perspective. Having that perspective was healthy and kept us buoyant through the trauma and drama that is touring a theatre show around the country.

What are some of of these indicators of success?

• Growing audience size
• Increase in per-performance income
• Generally positive feedback leading to useful press quotes
• Finding a way to promote the show that is effective
• having a show that is better at the end of the tour than the beginning. 
• When criticized, not hearing the same issue being brought up

How will Szeretlek and The Philip and Lucinda Dino Show do?

Wait and find out!