Luck will come...

Luck is such an interesting concept. On one hand it seems like it’s totally out of our control. Roll the dice, one day you’re the lucky one, the other day you’re not. Don’t go looking for luck, it’ll find you—eventually. On the other hand, I feel like if you have persistence and perseverance, luck will ultimately come your way.

Let’s take my first book contract for example. I did not write a book on a whim. I’ve always wanted to be an author and wrote throughout my childhood and early adulthood. I became serious about wanting to sell a book about ten years ago, but it still took me about six years to actually sell a book. I had many close calls but perhaps during those times luck was not on my side.

I slugged through all the rejections and never gave up. Finally I sold Shrinking Violet in early 2008. I had put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears and this was my time. Sure there was some luck involved, my editor really connected with my book because she was shy growing up like my main character. But hopefully if she was not the one to make an offer on the book, someone else would have eventually.

And then of course selling the movie rights to Shrinking Violet I felt super lucky! And to have the movie actually made, ten times luckier! So although I don’t have the answer on luck, I do like to think with the right amount of effort, luck will come my way. Of course for some things it takes longer than others, but if the end result is good, I’m willing to wait!