Speaking of luck …

Today I’m writing from the Virginia home of my daughter Jessie, who writes the blog Rurally Screwed and who has emerged as a pretty good example of how one does the whole blog thing correctly. (Step 1: Make it about something, and update it every day, instead of just when you feel like it.) Jessie has also co-written the well-received cookbook Tart and Sweet and her humorous memoir, Rurally Screwed: My Life Off the Grid with a Cowboy, will be published by Penguin next spring.

I like to think she’s gotten a little bit of her writing talent from yours truly, but I have to admit having nothing to do with her work ethic and discipline. Now we’re sitting in the same room tapping away at our computers, and I’m struck by the difference. This remains just a frivolous hobby for me, but it’s a real job for her. I’ll often start riffing on some lame idea for a post, then say the hell with it and go read a magazine or play a computer game.  For her, not getting it done is not an option.  She doesn’t get paid by the post any more than I do, but she has somehow discovered that success is not a matter of serendipity. As the old saying goes: the harder she works, the luckier she gets. Two books written and sold — from the perspective of a lazy man, that seems mighty lucky indeed. From the perspective of a dad, it’s a lot more than that.