Reply #30: The honest answer is that in the past, I did compromise

[Mike03]

When I was a young and struggling writer I tried to conform to meet the expectations of others. It took me a long time, and many years of maturing, and experiencing tragedies, and gaining self confidence, to begin to reject that way of being. It's dishonest when people say money doesn't matter, because when I was poor and struggling to find my place in the entertainment industry, I did want to please people--but that co-existed with my own passion, so I did not ever feel like a fraud. But as I matured, I began to see the hollowness of it, and was fortunate enough to be able to get out. But If that had not happened, I don't know what I would have done. We all draw a line somewhere, but we also have an innate desire to survive. I don't like to judge others. Our lives are all so different, and influenced by circumstances that are difficult to even describe or account for sometimes.

Best of luck

Mike