Perfection is for Martha Stewart

Success is countest sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed...

Emily Dickinson wrote. She never knew the mind-blowing success of her own poetry as only two or three of her poems were published in her lifetime. Only time will tell, Lynn Ruth, and the fact that your books and audience are out there means you have a chance of imprinting your soul on immortality. You have your readers and your audiences laugh at your jokes. You are being recognized and in that you are successful.
The arts are the worst industry for the faint of heart. I think it is grueling at times, like you, but I must submit and send out more work and be "judged" and "rejected", however painful and personal that process is. We must because writing is a biological need for us that we must satisfy otherwise we become grumpy, grouchy and impossible to live with.
Once success comes, as it did with my book Awakening from the American Dream in Holland, it seems a side product, a hollow and perfunctory thing that is not what it is cracked up to be. The real success is the private reader who has the courage to write you an e-mail or a letter and tell you what the book meant in her or his life. Those moments make my day-- even a glowing review can not equal that. And that is your success, too, Lynn Ruth, you connect with people through your art and stand-up comedy. That is what we are here for, and the rest... well, a royalty check can only buy you more groceries (that is, MY royalty checks at this point...) So hang in there. Perfection is for Martha Stewart and success can have many different dimensions...