Chance favors only the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur ** Chance favors only the prepared author. Mary Connealy

Think of this day as

SURVIVOR-SPEEDBO!

Do you ever want to be on Survivor? 

Me? I'm pretty sure I'd be gone the first day. 

I'd be all, "But I want to check my email!"

and... "Where's my recliner?"

and... "Is there a thermostat...I want the air conditioner turned on...on this desert island!"

However...SURVIVOR-SPEEDBO! is another story

Now you're in my wheelhouse.

THIS I can survive. Not saying I won...not with Carol Moncado in the house.

But I made it in my own way.

Which brings me to the title of today's blog. 

(Yes, I do have a point here.)

 "dans les champs de l'observation, le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés" 

Translation...In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind...Louis Pasteur

Well, here's my spin. 

"In the field of writing, chance favors only the prepared author!"

Louis Pasteur, he was a real big deal right? 

What was it? 

Electricity? 

Penicillin? 

Rabies!!! 

That it.

Also Pasturization...aptly named, huh?

(thnx wikipedia)

Louis Pasteur studied. He had degrees. He worked as a professor. He also had three of his five children die of typhoid.  This was an learned man who had powerful personal motivation to find the cause of and cure for disease. He worked hard and he studied hard. He became the director of an elite French college and he began to reform it to rigid scientific standards so the research they did was dependable and provable.

This man was prepared. And when little breakthroughs would come...he would be there, documenting it. Through his studies his MIND was prepared when an experiment would reveal some new bit of information.

Which brings me to AUTHORS

Chance favors ONLY the prepared author

I'd like to pitch a little idea here that we don't talk about much.

We talk about hard work.

We stay motivated.

We study.

Think of this...

Seekerville...professional organizations...online classes...

All the things we all do to be prepared...it's like college.

We are studying and it takes a while usually, but so does a bachelor's degree.

So does a master's degree.

So does a Ph.D. 

You are studying, working, PREPARING FOR YOUR CHANCE.

BECAUSE

Chance favors ONLY the prepared author.

Seekerville and SPEEBO are part of your advanced degree, your college level study.

Now, I'd like to show you some screenshots I took of my computer files.

I use the word Screenshots because I've heard the term, but honestly, I have no idea how to do that, so I used a camera and snapped a picture of my computer screen.

Note the file that says More Books...fifth on the right

 I don't know how well you can see it but those are files of my books. If you look close you can see 'a Trouble in Texas'. I label it 'a Trouble...' to keep it at the top of the file list. 

Anthology Thomas Nelson, that's a book called 'A Bride for All Seasons'. A novella collection that is coming in June with co-authors Robin Lee Hatcher, Margaret Brownley and Debra Clopton.
But the third one in the list is Countdown, that's a book that's yet to sell. A contemporary romantic action/adventure novel, below that is Devil's Nest. A gothic romance that is just about the most fun I've ever 
had writing a book. These books have their own folder because I've worked on them, done revisions, I still am working on those books. Now look on the right side, can you see the 

folder that says MORE BOOKS?

When I click that, the window below opens.

Here's what's inside

Some of these are in here mainly because they're long published and I rarely open them but want to save them. Petticoat Series, Montana Marriages, Of Mice...and Murder.
Not all of them are published though.
A Soft Answer...it's got it's own folder which means revisions, attention has been paid. Probably there are proposal and blurb files in there...and a couple more finished books that could be made into a series. Two more down, Safe Series. That's a series of sweet romances starring fraternity brothers, one of them was plucked out and became Clueless Cowboy but the other two books remain and there is
NOTHING WRONG WITH THOSE BOOKS. 

(No editor has agreed with me unfortunately.)

Scent of Heaven, a contemporary HP length romance set in the summer in the Ozarks, became The Christmas Candle, an ebook novella from last Christmas. I cut a 50k book to 20k, changed it to historical and set it at Christmastime....with two weeks notice.
This is no more than a person would do with a term paper, right?
Or a doctoral thesis? 

See How They Run, a borderline sci-fi spy action romance. It's not really sci-fi but they're dealing with a drug that doesn't exist. A super steroid. Two spies with no connection to each other, find out they've been made guinea pigs....when someone decides it's time to HARVEST THEM.

Down below the folders are files, some of these have been worked on and copied into other folders. Hostage is a book I love and I've teamed it with Countdown and See How They Run and A Soft Answer, see, that's now a four book series.
An editor can have them together or as stand alone books.

Anyway, my point to all this is...
Chance favors ONLY the prepared author.

The harder I work the luckier I get.

Success is one part inspiration and ninety-nine parts perspiration.

Writing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration...
which is why authors always smell so bad

So, time to report. How'd SPEEDBO go for you? Are you now a much more PREPARED author.

I hope so. I hope you're in this to work hard, to earn your degree, to graduate into publication!
To be PREPARED when your chance comes...because

Chance favors ONLY the prepared author.

Tell me how it went or leave any comment to get your name in a drawing for a $25 Christianbook.com gift card.
And I'm involved in a giveaway called Novel Lovers. 
Find details on my facebook page.
You must find the entry form and like all the authors, even if you already 'like' them, just click on the buttons to confirm it.
Facebook Novel Lovers Giveaway

http://www.maryconnealy.com