Serendipity and Hard Work

Earlier this year I learned about a writer’s cultural exchange program in Romania. It sounded perfect for me, especially in light of the novel I’m working on. So I applied for it. I even started planning for it because I just had this feeling that I was going to get in. The deadline was March 1 and I was to know by March 8.

Come March 8, I discovered that not only did they get such a good response that they upped the number of people invited from 8 to 18, I also learned that I was not among those invited.

I was disappointed, but moved on.

A week later, I got an e-mail saying that the response to the program was so good, they decided to do another week and invite 6 more writers. I was one of the 6.

I was so excited, I cried. It was 7:30am and the only individual I could share my happiness with was my dog (see the last blog entry for a picture of her). She didn’t know how to react. I was shaking. I was crying. I was repeatedly saying, “Oh, my God!” She thought I was angry with her and tried to skulk away. But I caught her up in my arms and did a happy dance around the room. Her tail wagged in response.

So, for the last few weeks I’ve been making my plans and singing “I’m going to Romania! I’m going to Romania!”

What’s even better is the itinerary has activities that seem to be especially made just for me and the projects I’m working on.

We’ll be touring Bucharest the first evening – scenes in my novel take place in Bucharest and at night.

We’ll be visiting a Romanian Shepherds Camp – one of the main characters in my novel is a shepherd.

We will be visiting with some artists who work with wood – I’m working on a short story in which the main character is a sculptor of wood.

The moral of this blog entry? The same I’ve mentioned in earlier posts: Go for your dreams. If you fail to reach the goals you set, you’ve probably learned a lot on the journey. Attaining the goal is a perk of your hard work – and sometimes a little serendipity.