by Writing Workshops Staff
2 years ago
To be successful as a writer you have to create your own smart luck.
Most of us think that luck just happens (or doesn’t) but everyone can learn to look for the unexpected and find serendipity.
Most of us think that luck just happens (or doesn’t) but everyone can learn to look for the unexpected and find serendipity.
Christian Busch has spent his professional career studying how to be lucky to create the serendipity mindset.
He has found that you might think of serendipity as passive luck that just happens to you, when actually it’s an active process of spotting and connecting the dots. It is about seeing bridges where others see gaps, and then taking initiative and action(s) to create smart luck.
For a writer, this sounds like a recipe for success, for establishing a habit of generating smart luck.
Busch's research suggests that serendipity has three core characteristics.
He writes that it starts with a serendipity trigger – the moment when you encounter something unusual or unexpected. For writers, this is often when an idea strikes for a project.
Next, you need to connect the dots – that is, observe the trigger and link it to something seemingly unrelated, thus realizing the potential value within the chance event (sometimes referred to as a Eureka moment).
Finally, and likely most importantly, Busch writes that sagacity and tenacity are required to follow through and create an unexpected positive outcome, which is what we are all seeking as writers who strive alone in the dark.
This is also the hardest part, sustaining a writing practice that produces (what Anne Lamott calls) the shitty first draft. Everything is possible after this point, but you first have to muscle your way through a draft to get there.
To put it in perspective, as of today, there are 211 days left in 2021.
- If you write 100 words per day, that’s 21,100 more words.
- If you write 250 words per day, that’s 53,750 more words.
- If you write 500 words per day, that’s 105,500 more words.
- If you write 750 words per day, that’s 158,250 more words.
And, you probably guessed that we would love to be part of your smart luck this year. Find your smart luck HERE.
