This Week's Topic: Luck vs Hard Work
“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity"-- Roman philosopher Senec
I have to agree with ol' Senec on this one. There's a lot of luck needed to be successful in any business, but no amount of luck will propel you to the commercial heights of King, Steel, Roberts, or Patterson if you don't put in the hard work. With an ever-moving goalpost of what defines success for each of us at various stages of our career, we simply cannot sit on our laurels hoping for "the call" that will vault us into the next level of achievement. Would I love to have a Scalzi or Bardugo eight-figure publishing deal? Suuuuure. Would I be beyond giddy if Netflix or Amazon purchased, produced, and aired one of my series? Yup, yup, yup.
Do I have the sales to attract that sphere of attention? [slaps thigh, dies laughing] Erm, no. Do I have the fan base or critically-placed influencer to put my work in front of the right people? Not that I'm aware. [Yo, I love the fans I do have!] Do I have the angel investor whose resources will ensure my licensed work will survive the gauntlet through the graveyard of abandoned projects? Again, no. [I keep checking the feathers in my yard, but they all came from buzzards. Sigh.]
So many things go wrong behind the scenes over which authors have zero control, be it a traditional 2-book publishing deal or a tv-rights purchase. For the sake of my sanity, I can only stress about the things I can control. The rest is up to...luck.
There are chances I missed because I wasn't ready for them. I thought I was, but no. I hadn't done the work that would've made me eligible, much less competitive. There is no one to blame for that but myself. Opportunity knocked and I couldn't answer. Sucked, no doubt. Lessons learned the hard way are effective motivations, though. So, now, I put in the hard work. I focus on what I can control. Regardless of whether fortune will favor me, I continue the write, to improve my craft, to organically grow my fan base, and to build a revenue-generating backlist that proves to myself that I've done the best I can.
Should luck visit on the heels of opportunity, I hope to be ready this time. After all, success is 93% hard work and 7% luck.
