You Don’t Need to Get Lucky, You Need to Get Serious

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” — Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher

Like many aspiring creatives, I’ve romanticized success.

For years, I thought surely my future as a writer was just one short story, one viral article, or one job application away. My work would get seen by the right person and they would say, “Aha! Here is the writer we’ve been looking for!” Naturally, a long career of critical acclaim and financial stability would ensue, all from that one lucky break.

But that’s not what happened. (Shocking, I know.) What’s worse though is how this Hollywood-style daydream prevented me from growing as a writer for years. After all, the onus of my life’s success was just as much on someone else as it was me, right? I wrote, sure, but it was intermittent and in rare and feverish moments when I “felt like it.” During those times, I would manically pour my ideas and overflowing inspirations into my word processor, trying desperately to create that magical piece of work that would launch me into the next phase of my life — that of a successful writer.

Looking back, I’m not surprised that I experienced little growth as a writer in those years. However, at the time I was completely baffled. Why was none of my work getting published? Why wasn’t I enjoying this creative hobby I knew I had a deep passion for? How many submissions did I have to slog through until someone finally recognized my writing for its true potential?

Potential. It makes me laugh now just writing it. As if any fiction magazine or website editor has the time to consider the potential of a writer. Potential is gone the second you leave college. No one looks at what you’ve done and considers what you could do, only what they have concrete proof you’re capable of already doing. And there I was, submitting fever dream short stories and wondering why journals didn’t find them good enough to publish.

It’s no mystery to me why my career optimism, technical execution, and ideation process have improved drastically in the last year, and in the last month, especially. In the last year, I started writing consistently. In the last month, I started writing daily.

Without fail, I now wake up at 6 A.M. and go directly to my living room. I make my sleepy brain wake up by listing out new writing ideas, and then I write. By 8 A.M. I’ve usually completed a full draft of my next post. In the early evening, I work on short stories. I completed one in just two days last week — a personal best for me. And it’s good. Probably the best I’ve written to date.

I’m still not a nationally acclaimed writer. Heck, I’m not even close to being able to pay a single bill with just my writing. I think it’s fair to say, though: my luck’s never looked better.