Our Worth As Writers
I might have told you this before… (I tell it a lot!)
I met Princess Diana. In person. The most famous woman on the planet at the time, and she talked to me!
I was eight years old when she and her then-husband (now King) Charles visited Ottawa. I was part of a Brownie troupe that had been invited to greet the royals. She stopped in front of me and asked my name. I was giddy with excitement! (Until she asked my best friend what her name was. “Diane”, my friend answered. And, given the similarity of their names, that was the end of me in that conversation…)
I’ve “dined out” on that story of my brush with fame, often “winning” the game of who’s met the most famous person.
Recently I met someone who also had met Princess Diana. Absolutely, I was impressed, and even felt a little proud that, at least I could hold my own by saying I’d met her, too, as if it were some kind of status game—until I realized I there was no reason to be impressed. This new acquaintance happens to live a life in which he comes in contact with famous people. Princesses aside, my life does not. It makes neither one of us better than the other.
It was a refreshing reminder. Famous or not, we all have our own value.
That goes for our writing, too. Famous or not.