On the importance of Luck

It's St. Patrick's Day today and people are hoping for the luck of the Irish. Or maybe they're just hoping for the luck not to vomit tonight.

Luck plays an important part of your writing career. Everyone thinks it can happen to them because they have talent, and a good idea and an army of friends to help them, but that's not enough.

Everyone has heard of Stephen King and James Patterson and J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer. Who out there has heard of John Flint or Martha Stoneham or Rich Pilot. Okay, those are made-up names but you get the point. They could be the names of failed novelists. The point is, we never hear of them because they failed. And there are millions of them. Far more than the few that dominate the field of literature. That means that you have a much greater chance of becoming one of the nameless masses than one of the remembered few.

You could write one of the best novels ever written and still fail. You could have over a thousand friends and maybe they won't read the book, or talk to others about it, or maybe they will and no one will care what they have to say. You could be a marketing genius and never sell more than a handful of copies.

Writing is hard work, there's no question. The actual writing of the book is probably the easiest thing about it. It's the most fun; I know that. Then there's the editing and the editing and the editing. And the marketing and marketing and marketing. All of that is far harder than writing a novel and it takes up a lot of your time. You stump for weeks and see no results and you have to find the strength to carry on.

And still, so much of it comes down to luck. Did your book get see by the right people and did they like it? Did they talk about it to others and did those others like it? And so on. Did you book hit a new, hot market?

Skill is important. Those who don't work hard and don't write a great book will never have a chance even if the opportunities come their way. But even if you do everything right it doesn't mean those opportunities will ever show up.

Success in writing is a confluence of hard work and luck.

This is nothing that hasn't been said before, but there is an overall point to it.

Don't give up.

I know as well as anyone can how this industry can beat you down. Maybe you have some flashes of success only to come crashing back down. Maybe you never experience any success at all. Maybe your friends read the book and don't like it (even though they'll tell you they do) maybe they never read it.

Maybe you fell all alone. Loneliness is a feeling that writers get accustomed to. Maybe you feel like no one else cares.

Maybe they don't.

None of that matters really. What matters is that you care. What matters is that you have a story inside of you that must come out. To not tell it would not only hurt you as a person, but it would be a crime, because if you don't tell a story then it dies with you, and stories are meant to be told. That's the purpose of their existence.

Maybe you'll never get lucky. Maybe you'll never be successful, maybe only a handful of people will ever read your books.

Maybe it doesn't matter.

All the matters is that you are out there. You are spitting into the wind and hoping against hope that someone will hear you. That's the bravest thing you can do. To follow your dreams against every obstacle that's thrown up at you.

So, on this St. Patrick's Day maybe you will have a little luck. Barring that, try to make it to the bathroom if you're going to throw up.

Enjoy the holiday everyone.