Hello Everyone! Welcome to the third Marketing for Romance Writers’ (MFRW) Monthly Blog Hop of 2021. Our theme is something that happened according to luck. Here goes.
As I’m sure many will relate, my (non-writing) career trajectory has not been smooth or linear. I also leave out the details on somethings in my past that aren’t worth going into. For example, I have a Ph.D. What I don’t talk about much is that I started it in one university, but finished it in another. Which was a great thing, because the second university was a much better fit, and a really happy, satisfying time for me. The story behind that change resulted from a bit of luck.
I was initially planning on getting my degree in international relations. I loved traveling and living in a wide variety of places. The program I was in focused on statistical social science and thus didn’t not require a foreign language for the degree. I thought that as an international relations major, that not only should I should speak a foreign language, but I really should do my thesis research in one. The only language I had a fighting chance to do that in was Italian. I had lived in Italy for year of study years before. As luck would have it, one of my teacher’s from the Italian program was teaching at another university down the road from me. I got in touch with him, and set up an appointment. I wanted to discuss possible thesis topics and broach the idea of him being an external advisor on my thesis committee. On the appointed day, I caught the L (we were in Chicago) and arrived at his office to find the building was closed. It was some holiday or another. He had forgotten all about me, and never let me know.
I wasn’t sure what to do next. Do I follow up? I was feeling pretty conflicted, when later that week, I attended a French class offered by Alliance Francaise. I wanted to dabble a little in a new language but didn’t want the rigors of a college level French class with all the Ph.D. work on my plate. I also wanted to get out of the Library and about the city. During the class, my mind wandered and I looked around the room. And I had another stroke of luck. At the back of the classroom, I saw the professor with his son who he had brought to the French class. When class ended, I went up to him, and re-introduced myself to him. We set up another meeting. This one worked, and I walked out of the office with a job in Italy as a research assistant working with him and his wife on a multi-year, multi-country research project.
I worked here at the Badia Fiesolana, overlooking Florence.
I lived here in Fiesole.
And here was my playground – Florence.
And a year later he got a job in London. I switched universities, continued on doing research for him and his wife, and got my Ph.D. from the London school. And I got to live and work here.
Was it luck? Some would say so. Others would point out that I was actively looking for support and resources to do a thesis in Italy, so I was opening doors to those opportunities. I personally think its both–that I went out there, and I had some luck. I don’t think luck would have come looking for me in the library. What do you think?
Thanks for visiting. Please hop on over to all the other fabulous writers and see how luck influenced their lives.
