Hard Work and Getting Lucky
By Anne Brown | June 10, 2012 |
On the eve of my debut YA novel, Lies Beneath (Random House/Delacorte), launching itself into the world, I am, as my mother would say, “completely and utterly discombobulated.” I don’t know what day of the week it is; I forgot to pick up my kids; I stored the milk in the pantry.
It’s like driving in my car, arriving at my destination, then looking around and realizing I have no memory of how I got there. All the scrapped drafts and bitter tears are gone, leaving behind a certain surprise at finding myself where I never dreamed I’d be. It is a humbling place, which begs not only the question of how did I get here, but when will the black-suited man show up at my door to tell me there’s been some mistake?
Don’t get me wrong. There was certainly a lot of hard work and a lot of thankless hours at the computer. But there were also many, many strokes of dumb luck along the way. Any one of these small opportunities could have easily escaped my notice, or shrugged its shoulders and taken a completely different path, leaving me with yet another manuscript collecting dust under my bed. And that’s the message I want to share.
In the words of Neil Gaiman, who recently gave an inspiring commencement address on life as an artist, “Often you will discover that the harder you work…the luckier you will get. But there is luck. And it helps.”
So without further ado, this is:
MY ACKNOWLEDGMENT PAGE TO PURE DUMB LUCK
- To the Famous Author whom I shamelessly approached on Twitter and who agreed, against her better judgment, to give me tips on my abysmal query letter if I promised never ever to reveal her name, thank you. Your generosity of time and experience got me over a mysterious hurdle I may never have overcome on my own.
- To all the agents who rejected my adult fiction because that’s not what I should have been writing. I see that now.
- To the literary agent who got sick and missed my pitch session at my very first writers’ conference. Chances are you wouldn’t have been interested in my MG manuscript anyway, but your last minute substitute was.
- To a 13 year old boy from New Jersey, who pulled my MG manuscript out of his agent/mother’s TBR pile, read it on the sly, and encouraged his mom to sign me.
- To a MG book that didn’t sell (yet), causing a sleep-disturbed night and a crazy dream that made me wake up and think: Mermaid assassins on Lake Superior. Yeah, I could write about that.
- To Johnny Depp for making half-crazed mermaids cool again and fueling a YA trend that–miraculously–I was ahead of.
- And finally, to Therese Walsh and Kathleen Bolton who decided (probably in an all night chocolate bender) that it would be awesome to have unpublished writers do guest posts for WU. I’m so thankful that I saw the invitation in the first place, let alone that I met with your approval. You gave me my very first audience, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Where ever you are on your writing journey, it’s time to make your own luck. Take a chance on yourself. If something feels scary, or risky, or maybe even a tiny bit stupid, it might be exactly the right thing for you to do. Embrace the many questions you have and never fear the “No,” because without the risk of asking, there will never be a “Yes.” Then, when the dust settles and you have arrived at your destination, you can sit back, take stock, and celebrate the lucky things: the people you’ve met, the mistakes you’ve made, the epiphanies that have epiphed.
You can take satisfaction in the fact that you didn’t overlook even the tiniest crack in the proverbial door and that–bit by bit–that’s how it opened.
Anne Greenwood Brown got her start as a traditionally published author of young adult paranormal and contemporary romance. Currently, she is a USA Today bestselling author of adult paranormal and contemporary romance (both traditional and indie) under the pen name AS Green . For more information see the Contributor tab. You can also follow her on Facebook , Instagram , and TikTok .
Aww, Anne! You are so welcome. I couldn’t be happier for you and am very much looking forward to diving into the deep with your mermaids. Even if they are assassins. (This is how much I love you.) Congratulations!!
Anne,
Kudos to you! I believe there’s no such thing as luck. What’s that expression? Luck is the residue of hard work. It goes something like that. People who sit on their hands and say, “Woe is me,” are generally lot very lucky. Best wishes for success with your first book.
Congratulations, Anne. I’m very happy for you. I’m not much of a believer in luck. I tend to agree with Deepak Chopra who says that there are no coincidences and that everything that happens is meant to happen. Based on that philosophy, you are a published author because you were meant to be one. There is no luck about it.
Anne, thank you so much for this post. It’s always inspiring to me when published authors pull back the curtain and reveal the valleys and peaks traveled on their journey.
So funny that you talk about the importance of taking risks. I just posted on my blog last night that I was going to begin doing just that. Your post today confirms the importance of doing so.
And thank you for sharing Neil Gaiman’s quote that the harder you work, the luckier you get.
Go get ’em, Roxanne!
Anne, lovely post. And a great reminder about luck and risks and taking chances on ourselves and our work. I find that whenever I’m outside of my comfort zone, something interesting tends to happen – whether in the writing itself or with the business side of things. The unknown, which can be so frightening, is often where real growth occurs. I remind myself that when I feel stupid and when I feel afraid, I’m in a very creative place.
Thank you for telling us your story, Anne. I “do” believe that in this business it’s a ton of hard work and “good” hard work, plus a little bit of accidentalness thrown in. I’m not discounting the fact you’re an excellent writer because I can tell by your post that you are. However, when you look at the things that “accidentally” helped you along the way, one begins to wonder if a little bit of “luck” didn’t help, right? However, as CG said above, you’re the one who worked to get yourself where you are today. Luck didn’t write a good book and luck didn’t get it published.
Patti
Thanks Anne for your encouragement!
Congratulations on your book! And I like your view that “luck” pops up when you’ve put in the hard work… both things are necessary in this world, and it’s nice to hear about a writer acknowledging them.
Best wishes as you send your book out into the world!
One of my boyfriend’s favorite expressions (very reminiscent of Gaiman’s words) is that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Sounds like you met every opportunity with as much preparation as it could handle. Congrats! ;)
Congratulations! Such a lovely thank you/acknowledgment with just enough mystery to fuel my interest in reading your book — I’ve been looking forward to it. I’m with other commenters: clearly you worked hard (in addition to luck) and also took chances, like by contacting Famous Author. You’re a good role model, thank you!
Anne, I very much enjoyed “Hard Work and Getting Lucky”: Your journey to publication was an exciting one, worthy of a book in and of itself! Congratulations, and I hope we’ll see many more books with your name.
Elle
Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments. I hope we all get lucky in 2012. Um…well… you know what I mean.
Great post! And wow, what a great way to see behind the scenes the simple lucky moments that nudged you a bit further down the path. I think that’s awesome and I wish you nothing but success!
Angela Ackerman
Just from reading this post, I’d wager that you’re hard at work making that next stroke of “luck” happen. Congrats on your debut and all to follow!
Wow. Such an inspiring post. You’ve shown me that (like so many others have told me) that the road may have what look like pitfalls that will turn into a blessing. Thanks for reminding me of it when I truly needed to hear it.
Love this, Anne! I so agree that hard work generates opportunities . . . and opportunities help us succeed.
So happy for you! Enjoy this ride.
:)
It sounds like your journey has been both strange and wonderful, one meant specifically for you. It gives me hope that I will experience just one such instance of dumb luck. Your story has proven to me that I will not get there unless I take a chance. Thank you!
What an inspiring post, and many congrats on your journey. I love your strokes of luck, and some things are just meant to be. Thank you for sharing with us!
As always, I chime in late, but huge congrats, Anne, and big hug right back. Luck is a factor, but it’s hard to be lucky if you’re not in the game. Everything happens for a reason!
Congratulations, Anne! I’m so happy for you, with your debut. And you’re right–there are so many different steppingstones along the path to publication. We just have to keep moving forward.
Congrats!
Congrats again Anne! I’m so looking forward to reading your book. Thank you for the reminders above and to look at the ‘stages’ of your opportunities as they become your reality! Encouragement and taking some chances as you believe in yourself, helps others to believe in you too! Obviously, you must first be in the game if you want to play…
Great post, Anne. I interpret “dumb luck” as “divine timing.”
(Love the bit about your agent’s son!)
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Loved, loved, loved this! Congratulations and enjoy your discombobulation! It’s kind of fun to have such a great reason to be spaced out. ;)