Even more about serendipity

Serendipity - it is all around us if we allow it to happen, if we are alive to opportunity, if we listen and observe with a lively and fertile mind, if we do more, in other words, than just lie back and let things float over us.

Or is it? Do we create our own serendipity? Are some people luckier than others? Do we make our own luck or bad luck? Can we significantly alter our destiny by our attitude to life? We certainly cannot have any control over the family and life circumstances into which we are born. And clearly some people have truly awful childhoods and many are born into abject poverty, violence and worse. But what about afterwards, in our subsequent journey through life?

I have written about Serendipity before - A seeming gift for finding good things accidentally - a word coined by Horace Walpole after the Persian tale of the Three Princes of Serendip. It is a subject that really fascinates me.

I think that for me it manifests itself from what I read, and in talking and listening to as many people as possible within my areas of interest, with the help of a fertile imagination. This I guess is what networking is really all about. And it can be very exciting. But energy and opportunity are both essential. And we can consciously create both.

People will often say - oh you are lucky - when I know I created at least a part of the so called "luck." What do readers think? I am collecting stories on serendipitous experiences for analysis. Please can you help me with these thought processes?

Images copyright Eleanor Stoneham 2010

Serendipity

Serendipity - A seeming gift for finding good things accidentally - a word coined by Horace Walpole after the Persian tale of the Three Princes of Serendip.



I was at the 30th Winchester Writers' Conference today, to hear Sir Terry Pratchett speak at the opening plenary session, in a talk he entitled "Why are you listening to me when you should be at home writing?" !!

He is a great believer in serendipity, he tells us. Things happen to him by happy chance - things that further his hugely successful writing career, as if he needed much more to help him on his way in that regard. To a packed auditorium in the Stripe Building at Winchester University he told us that he has never plotted a book - the process, he modestly explained, simply comes naturally to him when he wakes up and starts work each day. He was almost embarrassed to tell us this, but he did admit that sometimes the story did have to be rearranged later to get things into correct and sensible order.

He did also stress the value of reading massive amounts - a habit he acquired as a very young child, with a particular interest in historic novels. History, he told us, is so full of "amazing stuff." I certainly read avidly throughout childhood, mostly books of a scientific nature, as I actually disliked history intently, so obviously missing out badly on all that "amazing stuff."

Perhaps this is why I could no more write a fantasy novel as I suspect Sir Terry could write a scientific paper. (see an earlier blog of mine!)

Be that as it may, I have certainly benefited from serendipity in my writing journey. I was drawn to this conference in 2007 at a time when my writing demanded the further advice that a conference such as this can offer, and serendipity again led me to O Books Publishers; I was "fed up" one dark and miserable winter evening and drove to Bluewater for some retail therapy. There in Waterstones I stumbled straight away upon Barry Cottrell's The Way Beyond the Shaman, published by O Books, and thereafter received his encouragement and assistance in tempting O Books to take me on. Thank you Barry.

So here's to serendipity and avid reading.

Depression as a Spiritual Journey

Another day and another brush with the paparazzi - when will they leave me alone?! Seriously though, I have just returned from a day in London being interviewed for TV in connection with depression, more specifically a book, "Depression as a Spiritual Journey" by Stephanie Sorrell, published by O Books.
   Isn't that just a lovely painting for the cover - and if you read the book you will soon understand how appropriate it is. Of course the main focus of the interview was on Stephanie and her own experiences which led to her writing the book. I was asked along because someone else pulled out and I could talk from my own life around the same subject. And I think I could give Stephanie some moral support - I hope I did anyway.

The organisation is Conscious.TV. They produce programmes for Sky TV and other outlets. It all came about from a chance meeting with Iain McNay at a Scientific and Medical Network conference a few weeks ago. That was the weekend of flight chaos when Britain's planes were grounded because of a certain Icelandic volcano and skies were absolutely clear of aeroplane vapour trails. A unique experience. Just look at that sky!

Life is so full of wonderful serendipitous moments - they seem to have directed the course of my life for quite a while now. One thing I have learnt and now live by is that you get nothing in this world if you don't ask. And if you don't talk to people, strangers, anyone, you will never have chance conversations that can so often lead you in another exciting direction.
The film will be out in about 10 days and I will keep you posted. If I like the result, anyway! But I guess it will be in the public domain so there's no going back!

That same weekend at the SMN conference I found this quote from Thich Nhat Hahn. If only we could all understand that simple truth!

That's all for now - I am exhausted from the day and need to get supper!