Do You Feel Lucky?

I had a front row seat at my oldest son’s somewhat unconventional wedding this past weekend, and as I sat there, listening to the vows between him and his soon-to-be-wife, I was struck by two things. Firstly, that Oldest Junior Hall had kissed a lot of close-but-not-his princess on the way to finding his true love. But he never gave up; he always believed he’d find The One. 

And secondly, considering the goofball (his words, not mine) that my son is, that he was awfully lucky to find someone who found all that wackiness not only endearing but was willing to spend the rest of her life with it/him. 

It all reminded me of the novelist, Philip Pullman (whose trilogy, His Dark Materials, is brilliant fantasy writing). He was the keynote speaker at the Summer Spectacular SCBWI Conference this year, and he had a virtual Q & A. 

Mr. Pullman (Or maybe it’s Sir Pullman?) began by listing the three things necessary to be a writer who gets published. One necessary thing is perseverance, said he. 

Well, yes, of course, that’s a fact. A writer who wants to get published must stick to it, hang in there, never quit and all that. Everyone can have perseverance, right? No special skill involved there, just the ability to keep working despite setbacks. Perseverance comes in handy whether you’re trying to get published or find a mate. 

The esteemed novelist told his audience that we must also have talent. 

Okay, that’s a bit trickier. He felt like fate had granted him writing talent and that had obviously been extremely helpful in his career. But he had worked at improving the talent he’d been given and he encouraged the audience to work diligently on improving the talent they’d been given. And that’s certainly doable, too, since there are so many opportunities available to help us writers improve our skills. So yes, perseverance, talent…I’m feeling very hopeful at this point. 

And then he came to the third necessity to be published: luck. 

Wait a dang minute. Luck? I’m not saying that I haven’t often felt like there are writers out there who’d been exceptionally lucky to get this or that publishing deal. But I eventually talk myself out of that thinking because luck, after all, is not something you can somehow acquire. It’s just…luck. Some people seem to have been born under a lucky star while others of us couldn’t find luck if it whacked us upside the head. 

So, honestly, this annoyed me. It annoyed me a lot. 

But then I stopped all the mental fussing and fuming and moved on because…well, it’s true. Luck comes into play in our lives all the time, whether it’s finding the right mate or finding a publishing contract. My own books came about because of a lucky connection made years ago, even years before I started writing for children. 

And so I hope you’ll take Mr. (Or Sir) Pullman’s advice to heart. Persevere, work on improving your writing talent, and then be ready when luck comes around to whack you upside the head. Because it probably will when you least expect it. It’s just like the song that my son and I danced to at his wedding: “Fairy tales can come true. It can happen to you…”

~Cathy C. Hall (who enjoyed dancing to Young at Heart. In fact, she likes to think she's among the very young at heart. And that makes her indeed lucky.)