Sometimes Luck is Your Best Plan

Many years ago, before iTunes and online purchasing was common, back when CDs were purchased in retail stores -- I know, the Dark Ages -- I went looking for a CD with a specific track on it.  It was for my brother.  I don't remember the song, but he wanted it and I remember wondering how I was ever going to find it for me.

He was a student then and had no car to go places, where as I did have a car and was working in one of the jobs on my resume, before I started focusing on novel writing.  It was late in the year and he had asked for the song as a present.  The problem was the band that did the song was a one-hit wonder so they didn't have an album of their own.  Worse still, I am terrible remembering who recorded what song.

So with the odds stacked against me I went to browse in a music store.  I remember feeling lost and adrift and after a few minutes decide to look at the CDs with a complication of songs.  After a quick search I happened to stumble across a CD with the exact song I was looking for.

I couldn't believe it.  In such a circumstance, luck is your best plan.  This is also true when a hurricane is bearing down on you.  Only luck will keep your house intact, the power on, and the flood waters away.

However, luck is not the best plan for selling books, or even writing them or for many other things that require effort and planning such as exercising to stay fit, mowing the lawn, repairing the car, shopping for food.  I say this because I know please who think otherwise.  They rely on luck regularly for everything when they need to buckle down and get working.

But I shall not preach here.  That would be too easy.  Rather I just pose this point as something to think about when, say, you are resting from some hard work you have completed.  With luck, you'll find such a moment and reflect on this post.