I have to say I’ve only written four of these in my life. (And it shows.) The scarest thing about this fact is that my first synopsis was probably the best, because I hadn’t learned the rules yet.
I was talking to my mom tonight and we got on the topic of lucky breaks. We talked about how I entered my first contest and finaled. We also talked about how the first publisher I ever submitted work to bought my novel. She called it lucky. I call it not knowing any better and I’ll tell you why.
There’s a very good chance that had I known how tough the contest I entered was, I wouldn’t have bothered entering. The same goes with submitting to a publisher. I find sometimes it’s best to be a little on the oblivious side. I’m not saying you shouldn’t gather knowledge, doing so is absolutely essential if you want to continue to final or publish. All I’m saying is sometimes it’s easier to take a chance, when you have no idea what the risks are.
December 15th, 2003
