One of the cable shows we watch occasionally is, “A Fishing Story”. I don’t recall the exact background of the host, but in having a couple of different careers, to include time as a Marine, he fondly speaks of learning to fish from his great-grandmother. He said for him, almost everyone has a “fishing story”. Most of the episodes we’ve seen are about other veterans, but we happened to have it on this morning and the guest was a member of REO Speedwagon, a band the host has always enjoyed. In the second segment of the show, he asked how the move into the famous band occurred. The guy and a friend had been in a college band together and they went separate ways; the guy on the show playing bars, small events, and such. His friend did get into the big band and one day called. “You’re moving to California,” he said, “You’re in REO Speedwagon now.”

The simple fact is if your last name is Sinatra and you want to sing or Coppola and you want to be in the movie business, you do still need talent, but you don’t have to fight for entrance into the industry. For everyone else, somewhere along the way, an incredible element of luck is involved. The director or producer that sees something with an actor in a minor role, the teen who reads a little known book and says to his best-selling author father,  “Hey Dad, this book is really terrific, you should read it”, or however the right moment in time strikes. For most in the arts though, actually making a living will be extremely difficult and the more likely scenario is either a lifetime of a passionate avocation or a cobbled together two-or three part time jobs/multiple careers. Wait staff who get the extras work, the musician who does the bar circuit, the author who does content writing while working away at the book/play/screenplay. Many who begin with great dreams eventually come to understand this and manage to adjust their definition of success and enjoy their craft of choosing. If not, it can be bitter disappointment.