Failure in the theater is more dramatic and uglier than any other form of writing. It costs so much you feel so guilty.
The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs for no good reason.
In all honesty at that time I never saw myself as an author... I was just a Mom in a state of panic trying to enter a short story contest to win the prize money in order to keep the lights on in my home.