Luck Will Come To You

As long as I keep writing, according to this amazing Dutch man I met in a tulip garden.

Oh, Amsterdam. What a dream.

In the spring of 2018, I experienced deep heartache and needed to see beautiful things. I’m talking flowers, blue skies, lovely language, delish coffee, canals, buildings, history, the whole thing.

Somehow, I decided upon Amsterdam.

During the Amsterdam walking tour, my guide said the tulips weren't blooming. It was chilly, and I too wanted to bundle up in long sleeves so I couldn’t really blame the flowers for remaining in tight little buds. I’d bought a ticket for the Keukenhof Gardens in advance, and I’d be damned if I weren’t seeing some blooming tulips. By some miracle, the next day the weather warmed, the flowers were happy, and I spent a full day at the Keukenhof Gardens.

Most of the flowers had come out of their tiny buds and unfurled their petals in the sunny spring light. Unlike the Instagram photos of long rows of tulips, the Keukenhof Gardens (at least back in 2018) focused on the gardens part of Keukenhof Gardens. Manicured flower patches, tulips in every shade of the rainbow, mannequins dressed in flowers, windmills, cups of coffee, and so many photographs.

I have never taken so many pictures of flowers in my LIFE.

But like, can you blame me? The flowers were everywhere and photogenic and waiting to be smelled.

As usual, I wandered and explored and eventually needed a break so I ordered a cup of coffee in the and wrote in my journal and a kind old man across the seat from me, next to his wife, noticed I was left-handed and struck up a conversation. After relaying a story to me about I believe it was his son who was also left-handed, he asked about what I was doing and I said I was a writer and then told him my dreams of writing. He said, in effect of what happens when releasing writing out into the world, "Luck will come to you."

I didn’t catch his name. I didn’t catch his wife’s name. I don’t even remember what they look like, really. But after all these years, that statement, “Luck will come to you” has stayed with me. And the kindness of people I have met on my travels and the sheer joy of communicating in different places and languages and countries, and the excitement of never really knowing what is going to happen next or who you’ll meet along the way.

So many beautiful flowers. So little time. I actually missed the time slot for my return bus and ended up being told I was lucky again by a bus driver who let me go on a bus that wasn’t my assigned to me.

I don't really know what luck has in store for me, but all I know is that I am giving it everything I have. I have only one life to explore this world and I intend to see as much as possible. I plan on figuring it out as I go along and will do anything to see this dream through on to the very end. In short, I continue traveling because deep down that’s what I need to do. I need to go, to explore the world and dive deep within.

And in this time of COVID-19 where I’ve been writing yet haven’t really been traveling, maybe I really have discovered some kind of luck:

• I joined the incredible, life-changing London Writers’ Salon community

• I found a lovely pod of writers who keep me on track with my writing

• I finished two drafts (!!!) of my YA Fantasy/Speculative novel. (After this next draft I will hopefully be ready to query literary agents!)

• I did a DIY MFA where I worked on my skills and took four different writing classes in fall 2021

• In spring 2022, I took another YA writing class which led to a lovely writing critique group

• I launched this newsletter (thank you all for being here!)

It’s funny how you live life and yet understand things in the rear view mirror. All those years ago, maybe that wise Dutch man was right: luck will come to you…if I kept writing. And it did.

Every day, despite all of the not-so-good things that have happened, I feel truly lucky.

I believe in my writing, I believe in you and your creativity, and I’m so excited to see what’s next.

Cheers to living our lives!