The annals of literature are filled with stories of authors who labored alone and unrecognized, or in some cases had to overcome great or small adversity, to create legacies that become treasured as masterpieces by readers for generations upon generations.
The annals of literature are not filled with stories of authors who, despite every advantage, can’t seem to connect the dots. I’m sure that the stories are out there, but they’re not literature; they don’t captivate.
Did Shakespeare have a support network? If he did, it apparently wasn’t very important, because there are serious scholars who still debate whether Shakespeare actually existed or whether the name is only a nom de plume of one or more other authors. He didn’t seem to leave much of a footprint, except for his writing, which is required reading from high school through college hundreds of years later.
I have a great support network of people who make it possible for me to write, and who even help proof what I’ve written. There are also an enormous number of people who will testify that I do, in every possible sense of the word, exist. It doesn’t seem to help me sell books, however.
