A single longshot event.

I wonder how many people can point to a single longshot event that completely changed their lives.  Maybe everyone can, but I kind of shudder to think what my life would have been like if I hadn't sent my first book off.

As I contemplate the publishing world and see how difficult it is to make any headway, I look back at the moment in my life when I quit my gas station job, holed up in my quad apartment, and pounded out Star Axe and sent it off.

When it got accepted, I probably overestimated its importance for a few years.  (The money wasn't enough to spread very far and while it hit the mass market, it didn't seem to stay there long.)  I'm glad I followed it up with two more books, so I don't have to believe it was a total fluke.

Then I probably underestimated the books' importance for a couple of decades until the internet came along and the books had a small revival.  Now I look back and shake my head at the sheer magnitude of the chance that all hinged on one longshot thing happening.

From that one unlikely event I regained my emotional equilibrium, I regained faith in my own instincts, I gained confidence, and I had a goal to strive for and take me out of myself.  From that, I joined writer's group and met Linda.  (The most important event in my life, but it would never have happened without me being a writer.)  From that came working at Pegasus Books and then buying the store.  From that came the blog writing and the current wave of writing.

It happened and it's a moot point.  But looking at the trajectory of my life to that point, I really do shudder to think of where it would have gone from there.