Gotta love Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry. The exact movie line is:
"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"
Yesterday I was talking to a friend who said, "Man, are you lucky!" She was referring to the fact that I get to do what I love and get paid for it. She's told me this many times and every time I just smile and say, "I really feel blessed." She's a good friend and I know she means well but I always feel a slight twinge of annoyance when someone says I'm lucky to be published. To me, luck is for lotteries and slot machines. I don't feel that it took much luck for me to get published. It did take me five years and five manuscripts to sell that first book though.
During those five years I wrote with four little children nipping at my ankles. I wrote while nursing, burping and rocking babies. I wrote during midnight feedings and through temper tantrums (sometimes my own). I also wrote on little scraps of paper during soccer games.
I'm not special. Lots of writers I know were just as lucky to work their asses off too LOL!
So do you believe in luck or do you think we make our own?
11 comments:
I don't believe in luck, per se, but being in the right place at the right time (RPRT) certainly helps. In that frame of reference, I have highs and lows. Finding my husband was a matter of RPRT. Maybe finding an agent will be like that. Years of careful searching and hard work followed by one blinding flash of RPRT. ;o)
RPRT? Wow I LOVE that! Yes, I do believe that there are times when you hook up with the right people at the right time and it feels like everything is falling into place. I don't know if that's luck but, like you say RPRT :) And I actually met my own agent that way so it does happen!
Congrats on your success, Wendy. I know how hard you've worked.
Just curious -- how's the giraffe?
I think we make our own luck, however sometimes -- as b.e. said -- being in the right place at the right time really helps. ;)
Congrats, Wendy!
Hi Julie & Meg, thanks for popping in!! Julie, the giraffe is definitely a post for another day lol.
I think Oprah said it best when she was speaking to Josh Grobin in an interview about how he got "discovered." He said he was just lucky. Oprah said Luck was when opportunity met preparation.
BTW - Chiming in late, but I LOVE the new cover!!!
sure some of it is luck. I mean, I wasn't born in baghdad, after all.
ah, must shed the cave mentality Time for dancing around and saying WOOO WOO WENDY. Fantastic and Julie's right, you worked hard and have that talent thing going for you too.
Also? I didn't have to read much to know that I love Sadie. And Jacob's a hoot (even if he is missing half his head).
Jana, thanks so much for your cover comments! Oh and I agree with Oprah, definitely a good ting when opportunity meets preparation.
kate, thanks for popping by. OMG, my blog's been invaded by bats ... not a bad thing though ;)
I think Jana's a missing bat, too. ;)
julie - I'm not missing, I've just been busy for the past three years. :)
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