Feeling lucky?

My somewhat phenomenal streak of luck first made its presence known when I was a mere 2 1/2. Some kid selling raffle tickets for a school fundraiser came to my Grandma's door. She decided to buy a few and when trying to figure out who's name to put on the last ticket, she looked down. There I stood, looking all innocent and demure (probably not, but it makes the story better). Furiously penning my name, she returned the tickets to the kid. A little while later, my parents got a call. I had won $250. Not bad for a toddler.

In grammar school, I was absurdly PO'd that my mom couldn't have kept me in another week, resulting in me being born 4 weeks late, so that my 13th birthday would fall on Friday the 13th.

When I was in high school, I attended a softball all-star series that my young sister was playing in. I won the Split the Pot raffle the last two days of the series. I think the total haul that time was around $90. One year, I also won the grand prize Easter basket for filling out the Career Day fair questionnaire.

In college, not much happened luck-wise, but I realized that I seemed to have good things happen to me on Friday the 13ths. The first one I remember noticing this was a payday, and finding some really nice dresses and shoes majorly on sale and having an all around good day.

After college, the streak of luck returned. I won a 32" TV at an event I was helping my aunt out with. At another event where my mom was a co-chair (it was a Mom's Club thing for my brothers' high school), we both bought lots of raffle tickets so that we had a shot at winning the adirondack chair and table set my dad had built and donated for the second prize. She won the third place painting, and I won the first prize $400 airplane ticket voucher. I've also been attending a fan event almost every year for an author I love. We've been having a fundraising basket raffle for probably the last 7 years or so. I think I've only not won one year. For that one, however, I make sure the law of probability is on my side. My friends from that group of people have long been proclaiming I'm one of the luckiest persons they know and even gave me the moniker "Goddess of Good Luck". It didn't help my reputation that when I attended an RWA conference a few years ago, I won two of their baskets AND an Alphasmart Dana.

My most recent spate of luck was within the last month. I went to my local Borders' event for teachers and librarians during their Educator Appreciation Weekend. They were having a gift bag drawing. My name was the first name drawn after I walked in the door. Last week, I was telling a friend this at a conference right before we got roped into a demonstration by a vendor. Well, as a thank you for sitting through the demo, the vendor drew a name from those attending for a $10 gift card to Starbucks. My friend said "Watch, they'll pick your name." I was in the middle of saying "Don't even say that!" when they did. I greatly appreciate my luck, I just wish I could win money on the order of a nice Lotto prize one of these days. I've yet to break that original $250 for a flat out cash prize. I came close last year at my grammar school's all-school reunion, though.

Is It Luck...?

I was going to start this post by saying I'm not a superstitious person. But...

It's a tradition in my family to serve pork and sauer kraut on New Year's Day, so we'll have good luck throughout the year. While I'm not a huge fan of sauer kraut, this is the one day of the year when I'll fix it. Another "good luck" thing--I'm in the habit of saying "knock on wood" after I voice a "I'm lucky that...(fill in the blank of nothing bad has happened) kind of statement. And if I'm walking with a friend and we pass on opposite sides of a pole/tree/whatever, I say "bread and butter" to protect the friendship.

All that aside, I've also been known to walk under a ladder, laughing in the face of danger. Of course, I then throw a pinch of salt over my left shoulder.

The number 13 doesn't hold any significant source of misgivings for me (as a matter of fact, in some parts of the world--and with at least one of the Deliciously Naughty Writers--13 is considered to be lucky), I don't carry a rabbit's foot or four-leaf clover, I don't have an upside-down horseshoe hanging anywhere in or on my house, and there are no other "good luck" items that I carry or rituals that I observe in order for good luck to grace my path. Because, pragmatically, I believe that we make our own luck, and hard work and persistence go a long way toward getting what you want.

But let me consult my Magic Eight Ball before I say that with any authority...



Remember that earlier I wrote about knocking on wood? In olden times when (most) people believed in sprites and faeries, they would knock on wood to scare the wood sprite back into the table so he or she wouldn't do the person harm. Not sure if it works by knocking yourself on the head, which I've been known to do, too. Though that could explain the voices...

So, what sort of things do you (or people you know, if you don't want to own up to it) do to make sure you have good luck?

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Oh, and hey! My newest book is due out today. Check out Edge of Night at Liquid Silver Books!



For an excerpt, click here.