So far this year there have been three contests that I almost qualified to enter. My novel is really a novella and didn’t make the word count for one; my dream-come-true story didn’t involve sky-diving or some other near-death experience for the second; my first page start was intriguing and quirky, but not exactly scintillating enough for the third. To top it off, I missed my self-imposed deadline to finish the sequel to my novel(la).
And then came a second chance.
For every story about being in the right place at the right time with the right project to pitch there are at least five about being next on the list for the agent to call, or almost finished with the proposal. There aren’t many stories about recognizing opportunity when it knocks again. This is unfair to those of us – and we are many – who have spent our lives missing the bus, the exit, the big break. We need encouragement to believe there will be another chance. We need to know that sometimes luck happens, and sometimes we make can make our own lucky break because we’ve seen it happen to someone else and remembered the steps.
So I am not discouraged that the sequel I’ve worked on for a year still has a few months to go. I’ve got another chance to launch that book in the spring – and this time, I’ll be ready.