In 1998, I sold my first novel to a major NY publisher after a lifetime of trying. It felt like a miracle (it WAS a miracle). I turned fifty in December ’97 and had pretty much given up all hopes and dreams by then. Almost immediately, luck grew. The kind of luck you pray, work, and dream comes your way like “A Star is Born,” type of bullshit that never really happens to anyone you know, much less yourself.
