When I was, like, eight, I begged my mother for a lucky rabbit’s foot.
(Don’t ask me why people feel these are so lucky. I’m sure the rabbit doesn’t think so.)
By then Mom was used to such requests. Already she’d caved in to my pleas for a diary that locked with a key, a heart-shaped locket, an iron-on monogram with my initials for my pink button-down shirt, and a shrunken head.
Okay, really it was a carved coconut made to look like an man in the last throes of fear of being eaten by an anaconda. I guess that explains all the nightmares and my bloodcurdling screams.
(And why, finally, Mom buried the head in the back yard– something I would never have known if my trusty Doberman sidekick, Kazan, hadn’t dug it up and trotted it back over to me. It was Mom who screamed then, when she saw it back in its usual place: on my bookshelf, next to the rabbit’s foot.
I guess that foot was lucky after all — for the coconut, anyway.
Which brings me to the topic of luck, specifically as it pertains to writing.
I know a lot of novelists who are excellent writers. Their stories are compelling, but for some reason they haven’t connected with the zeitgeist that will give them the traction that would make them the next Nora (Roberts)/ Danielle (Steel)/ Dan (Brown)/ John (Grisham)/ Stieg (Larsson) / JK (Rowling)/whomever-is-the-author-flavor-of-the-year. Maybe they weren’t in sync with an agent willing to stick it out with them while they tried to claw their way out of the mid-list. Or maybe what the author is writing books that editors aren’t buying right now, because that genre is “over-saturated” because these same editors bought too much of a trend in which readers have OD’d on.
Yet another reason to forgo the trends, and write what resonates with YOU.
Believe in your story.
Believe in your voice.
Believe in your ability to find the right mentors (critique partners) and professional champions (agent, editor) to help you get it in the hands of readers who will appreciate it, and want even more from you.
Yes, you know where this is leading: BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.
Only you can write that book.
Only you can sell that book.
Only you can give you the career you want.
So toss that supposedly lucky penny you found on the sidewalk, the fortune from the Chinese takeout box, and that parsley sprig you insist is a four-leaf clover, because none of these will get you what you want: your name on the spine of a book.
When the stars do align for you, it’s because you’re in the right place, with the right book.
Case in Point: Just this past week, MSW author, Karin Tabke was honored with Romantic Time’s Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Romantic Fiction for her book, Blood Law.
Hell yeah, she deserved it.
If I were to be objective about the karma surrounding that rabbit’s foot, I guess I’d say it wasn’t really all that lucky at all. My grades didn’t improve. My hair stayed coiled in a frizz ball. And I was still taller than all the boys in my class. Except for Bob Butler, which is why we were always partnered for square dances.
(For your sake, Bob, I’m hope you kept growing. As for me, I was happy to top out at at five-foot six inches, in the seventh grade and let the rest of the class catch up.)
The rabbit’s foot is long gone. And thank goodness The Hub looks nothing like the coconut head, albeit sometimes I wish I knew right voodoo curse that could turn him into a bug-eyed pinhead when he acts like one. In the meantime, I’ll stay away from Vegas slot machines and Golden Gate Fields…
But not my Mega Millions tickets.
Feeling lucky? If so, play this little game with me! It’s called “Lucky 7.” Here’s how it works: I”ve posted the scene starting on page 77 of THE HOUSEWIFE ASSASSIN’S HANDBOOK, here. For a chance to win this digital eBook, email me at MailFromJosie@gmail.com with the correct answer to the question at the end of the post (worth 7 points). The winner will be chosen from the correct answers received by Midnight PT on Friday, April 20, 2012.
Earn a Bonus Point for commenting here below, about your good luck charm, or by congratulating Karin on her win.
Good luck!
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