Can you create your own luck?
Thomas Jefferson said it best: "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more luck I have."
An open writer goes to a writer’s conference and sees the potential to make new friends and contacts with the possibility of getting in touch with an agent or editor. A closed writer sees competition and shuts down.
Luck is what happens when you open yourself up to chance. Chance meets optimism.
You’ve worked on your manuscript, loved it, and now you feel the time has come to introduce it to the world. You hold you story out the window and wait for the Agent Fairy to fly by and pick it up. If only that’s how getting published worked!
Luck is what happens when you sign up to pitch your story to an agent, find the perfect outfit, wear an extra layer of deodorant, prepare and deliver your one-minute speech. The next minute you’re being asked to send the full manuscript to the agent. Preparation meets opportunity.
I’m sure you’ve heard many authors say they were in the right place at the right time for their book to be sold. Does that mean they stood around at writer’s conferences, waiting for an agent to spot them and ask for their story? Do they mean once they typed the words “The End” the journey was over? Did they land a book deal on the first query? Most likely not.
Luck is what happens when you write and write and edit and on query number 189 you land a book deal. Discipline meets perseverance
One hundred eighty nine rejections. That is a lot of “no thank yous” or “your story is a right fit for us.” A lot of soul crunching pain, wondering if your dreams are worth the trouble. Each time the backbone gains a little more strength, scar tissue interweaves over the weak spots, giving us the courage and strength to move on. Again and again. Muscles grow stronger from resistance. Become resistant to rejection.
Luck is what happens when you persist through the rejections, never giving up, and are open when the right agent says yes. Perspective meets strength.
Stop searching for that elusive four-leafed clover. It gets grass stains on your knees and only wastes precious time you can use to create your own luck.
Luck is what you make it, my friends. Now go out and make some.
8 comments:
Well, since I've already kissed the Blarney Stone, I think I've got my good luck made!
Hey Taffy! Yes, I saw that we are in the same group. It's such a relief to know someone. I can't wait to jump into your stuff. Do you write YA? Is this a YA group? Or just mystery, thriller, suspense?
Yes, lets make our own luck at this years stinkin Storymakers!
You're right, we have to do our absolute very best and then put it out there. Hopefully the rest will come.
I thought kissing the Blarney Stone meant turning very talkative. lol I've been told NOT to kiss the Blarney Stone.
Hey, Jessie! Mine is YA thriller. What about you? Are you pitching this year?
Andrea, I wish right now, a little luck would get me going again :)
Thanks for the follow! I've heard so much about you from Julie. I'm following you back now :)
I almost used that quote for my post this Friday! I love the quote. And I love what you did with it. It's so true that you have to put in the work to make the luck happen. Who are you pitching to at Storymakers?
And yeah. That extra layer of deodorant can make all the difference! ;)
Thanks, Brooke!
Peggy, I'm pitching NOT ME, my thriller/horror.
I agree with you that you create your own luck by hard work. But ... I also think that those who believe they are lucky will self-fulfill that prophecy. And those who believe they are unlucky, will also self-fulfill their expectations.
Good post, I enjoyed reading it!
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