Friday, September 23
Advice from Princess Leia
Here's some writing/life advice about talent and its relationship to fame (OK, way premature in my case, but a guy can dream, right?) from Carrie Fisher's new novel (yes, Princess Leia writes fiction too!) "The Best Awful." The "she" here is the main character, Suzanne, who's resentful (but finally accepting) at having to pose for the paparazzi (because she was once famous) at a funeral for a producer friend, convincing herself thusly:
"The only part of fame she understood was the thing that had purchased it -- talent. She figured the acting or writing or singing or talk show hosting you did for free because you at least at one point you had liked doing them. All the by-products -- being reviewed or scrutinized, signing autographs, and posing for pictures--those were the things you got paid for. The photo ops and sound bites you delivered as requested, those were actually the things that paid the rent."
