Luck In Writing
I’m lucky. Not in a “you’re caller number ten” kind of way. I’ve never won concert tickets or a free cruise. I’ve never hit triple sevens or called out, “BINGO!” No, I’ve got the slow-burning kind of luck, the kind of luck that builds into something momentous.
Today my debut novel, Between Earth and Sky, hits the shelves. It’s a dream I’ve been working toward for seven years. But the foundation of my success—hard work, perseverance, and, yes, luck—reaches back farther still.
I struggled to read as a child. I had trouble sounding out words (still do) and couldn’t pass a spelling test to save my life. I’m lucky because my teachers and parents noticed this early and found resources to help me learn despite my dyslexia. I’m lucky that my parents read to me, in addition to encouraging me to read on my own, so that I could experience the magic of a good story without having to wrestle with each sentence. Otherwise, I may never have come to love books.
School assignments and BOOK IT! campaigns aside (I also loved pizza), I didn’t become a reader until my late teens. But writing, storytelling, putting my daydreams and fancies to the page—these pursuits I enjoyed since I could first hold a crayon. It didn’t matter that half the words were misspelled. I knew what I was trying to say. I’m lucky my parents encouraged this, and later my husband. I’m lucky he didn’t balk at the idea of me quitting my well-paying day job to write a novel. (Lucky too I was able to find another job when I came to my senses and realized this whole writing thing took more than a rough first draft and eager disposition.)
This part of my story is doubtless familiar. I wrote a novel. Edited it. Queried. Rejection. Repeat. I found a writers group. Got better. Wrote another novel. Then luck interceded again.
A friend told me about Pitch Wars and I entered. Heather Webb—a debut author herself at the time—chose me as her mentee. The contest didn’t rocket me into authordom as it has many others. I didn’t get a slew of manuscript requests, an offer of representation, or book deal. But I learned a lot about writing and, perhaps more importantly, about literary citizenship. I made connections and friendships. And I didn’t give up. Query. Rejection. Repeat.
Two fruitless revise and resend letters and two years more of editing landed me in the lucky position of having a solid manuscript when I pitched to agent Michael Carr at the Las Vegas Writers Conference. Despite having heard countless pitches, he’d never found a writer at a conference he wanted to sign. Lucky for me, I became the first. He warned me that the odds of finding an interested publisher for a debut novel like mine were only slightly better than 50-50. My luck held. Between Earth and Sky found a home at Kensington Publishing.
Seneca famously said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I’ve always liked this quote. It implies there’s a piece of luck that’s under my control. Luck doesn’t just happen. It’s something I can prepare for. Something I can invite into my life.
But chance, opportunity, serendipity—these play a role too. There were certainly days, weeks, months when it seemed the only emails coming into my inbox were form rejections. Just as there had been days, as a girl, when each page read was a struggle.
For writers, who work so hard to bring their art to the world, it can be frustrating, disheartening even, to acknowledge that luck—something not entirely within our control—plays a role in our success. And it’s easy for me, with my dream of publication realized, to look back and see all the ways luck bettered my life. But keeping luck in the forefront of my mind reminds me to be grateful.
I’m grateful for my family and their support. For my husband, who’s also my biggest fan. For my agent who took a chance on a debut author he heard pitch at a conference.
There will be days ahead when I doubt my luck, worry it’s run out, question whether I was every really lucky at all. I want to acknowledge it now, as much to remind myself as to encourage other writers to see luck’s hand. It won’t always come when we think we deserve it or in the way we expect it. Sometimes luck is sweeping. Sometimes it’s subtle. But the more I look for luck, the more I find it already present in my life.
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Amanda Skenandore is a historical fiction writer and infection control nurse. In writing Between Earth and Sky, she has drawn on the experiences of a close relative, a member of the Ojibwe Tribe, who survived an Indian mission school in the 1950s. When she’s not writing or chasing germs, Amanda gardens and volunteers with her local writers group. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their pet turtle Lenore.
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About BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY
On a quiet Philadelphia morning in 1906, a newspaper headline catapults Alma Mitchell back to her past. A federal agent is dead, and the murder suspect is Alma’s childhood friend, Harry Muskrat. Harry—or Asku, as Alma knew him—was the most promising student at the “savage-taming” boarding school run by her father, where Alma was the only white pupil. Created in the wake of the Indian Wars, the Stover School was intended to assimilate the children of neighboring reservations. Instead, it robbed them of everything they’d known—language, customs, even their names—and left a heartbreaking legacy in its wake. The bright, courageous boy Alma knew could never have murdered anyone. But she barely recognizes the man Asku has become, cold and embittered at being an outcast in the white world and a ghost in his own. Her lawyer husband, Stewart, reluctantly agrees to help defend Asku for Alma’s sake. To do so, Alma must revisit the painful secrets she has kept hidden from everyone—especially Stewart.
Told in compelling narratives that alternate between Alma’s childhood and her present life, Between Earth and Sky is a haunting and complex story of love and loss, as a quest for justice becomes a journey toward understanding and, ultimately, atonement.
Category: On Writing, Women Writers
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Well, I’m (obviously) not a woman, but this rings true for any aspiring writer, and that includes me.
Nice piece, Amanda.
My father used to say, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any at all.” Hard work is what counts when opportunity shows its face, and you certainly did that. The book is wonderful and you deserve all the best results Lady Luck brings.
Thank you, Paul! Here’s to being ready when lady luck smiles! I have a feeling she’s about to look your way. 🙂
Congratulations and well done! Your story is very encouraging. It really shows the importance of perseverance and commitment.
Thank you, Gloria! I’m so glad you found the post encouraging. That was my hope. Never underestimate the power of perseverance (and a little bit of luck).