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I won the Georgia Romance Writers’ Maggie Award. I still have to touch the necklace to believe it sometimes. Until Stephanie Bond called my name, the Maggie had been something other people, including several of my friends, won. I’ve had good luck, gotten terrific advice, and had wonderful, supportive results from the RWA contest circuit, and I appreciate all of it. As a GRW member, though, I have a special soft spot for the Maggies. I’ve wanted one for a long time, and winning it provides invaluable encouragement on the road to publication.
Publication, you see, is still something other people attain. It’s tempting, sometimes, to think they’re just luckier than I am. Of course luck enters into the equation. The right book, the right editor, and the right time, as the mantra goes, are all essential ingredients luck frequently influences. The late Cheryl Ann Porter (quoting someone whose name I can no longer remember) said, “Success in publishing requires talent, persistence, and luck. You can get by with any two as long as one of them is luck.” But luck, alone, isn’t enough. You need talent and/or persistence, too.
The people I know who’ve leaped the bar to publication demontrated both of those as well as luck. A friend of mine said, after selling her first book, “I’ve been lucky.” While I can’t argue with that, I also think she made her own luck. She kept working to improve, taking advantage of opportunities like contest finals, and even making opportunities by submitting everywhere she could. I firmly believe that all of those–plus an element of luck–went into my Maggie win. I never expected to win, but I hoped I might and worked toward the possibility.
My friend kept trying. So am I. By persisting, I think, we grab for ourselves some of what appears to be other people’s luck.
What about you? Was there any luck that appeared to favor someone else that suddenly swung to favor you?
4 Comments
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Helen 
It’s the old thing about grabbing the golden ring, right? Grab it while you can!