Seeking Serendipity
How does it play out?
What is serendipity? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it’s “the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance.” I’ve experienced serendipity in so many ways during the course of writing my debut novel, Whistling Women and Crowing Hens that I’m starting to take it for granted!
First was when I found my grandmother’s box of mementos. The timing couldn’t have been better although I didn’t realize right then. As I shared in my blog about my Grandma Lambert, I was in a difficult state. We’d been slowly losing my sweet mom over the years to Alzheimer’s and it had gotten so bad, she could no longer live at home. My parents had been married for over 63 years, so being separated was a challenge for all of us. I was beyond sad. I was angry at the disease and life as well. Finding those “interesting” things catapulted me past my anger into the creative world of writing. I hadn’t gone looking for my grandma’s history—it found me!
My second serendipity experience was with my first fiction writing workshop. Once I had written about 40 really shitty pages, I knew I needed to learn the craft of better writing from professionals. I subscribe to Poets & Writers magazine so I searched their impressive database for a writing workshop. I found one held by an author/teacher named Laura Davis (which I “knew” was meant to be since my mom’s name is the same!) and it was at a beautiful retreat center in Big Sur, California. Two of my kids lived in San Francisco—so I registered and purchased my Southwest Airlines ticket. I would attend the writers retreat for five days and then visit my kids. Then the mud slides came and devastated the Big Sur coastline and roadway. The retreat center closed temporarily. The writing workshop was cancelled. Not to be deterred, I searched the internet for a creative writing workshop offered that same week that was close to an airport where SWA flew. I found one that fit my criteria in North Carolina with availability. I signed up. There were six participants and two leaders. It turned out to be a very positive, encouraging, learning experience—just what I needed. The group helped me hone my story away from trying to write my grandma’s exact life (which I had little to go by) and letting the characters that had been trying to get their voices heard properly on the page. The “valuable thing I found by chance” was an excellent workshop, an online writer’s critique group, and new friends.
My third serendipitous story was my move to North Carolina. You can read about it in my “Turning the Page” blog but here’s the more to the story. It was October when I traveled to Durham, NC to house/cat sit for a month at some of my writer’s critique group friends (that I had met in the workshop above). As I often do in new towns, I went to the local farmer’s market that first weekend. I ran into one of my other writer friends and as we strolled by the beautiful stalls full of fresh produce, flowers, coffee, crafts, and more I noticed an apartment building located across a park at the far end. Turns out the park is Central Park, in the heart of downtown Durham (not near as expansive as the one in NYC but just as aptly named). I pointed to the top floor corner apartment with an awesome balcony and told my friend, “If I move here, I’d like to live there.” We laughed because I hadn’t even mentioned that I wanted to move and we both knew there was no way that apartment would be available when I needed it.
Fortunately, serendipity stepped in. By the end of my month’s stay, I had toured the apartment building. I was seriously considering moving to Durham, NC! I hadn’t told my family, my elderly father, nor my friends in Texas. When I stopped by the manager’s office one more time before I left, I learned that the corner apartment would be available in December. This had moved beyond serendipity, it was fate. I needed to start over. “Move” had even surreptitiously shown up in several of my lists that I make as part of my New Year’s rituals. North Carolina’s charm had caught me—their progressive arts, the hiking trails, the authentic people, and I even knew six friends that lived nearby. That was more than any other place I had been considering. So, I threw logic, planning, caution to the wind, and signed the lease. I figured I could move there, try it for a year and always move back. But I didn’t. I thrived (with purpose, determination, and perseverance) in North Carolina and now own a home. I’m not planning on moving anywhere else for a while. (but who knows ...)
There were other little serendipitous things along the way too. For instance, my Dallas book launch was held at the flagship Half Price Books store, which was about a mile from our home when I lived there. HPB was not only our library of sorts (our little suburb didn’t have one) it was also where my dad had purchased most of his “Papa’s book-of-the-month” books he mailed to his grandkids. The HPB flagship store held a special place in my heart and life in Dallas. Turns out that my former neighbor is now the President! And when she heard I had a debut book, she offered to have HPB host the event! They even had an electronic sign that flashed my photo and book cover for weeks before—several friends sent me photos of it, which made my day!. It was and still is surreal!
Do you think serendipity happens more now that I’m aware of it? I do know that it seems as if I’m finding “interesting and valuable things by chance” all the time these days! A new cat “found” me during the weekend of my book launch (a future blog—my rescue cats and her are still getting adjusted to each other so I’m not sure how valuable it is yet!)
Have you experienced serendipity like this? I’d love to hear your stories. Do you think it is by chance or because we’re open to it? Much to ponder ...
Stay curious and open to serendipity!
Like this article? Here are some of my others you might be interested in:
Audacious Dreams and Grandmothers
My book Whistling Women and Crowing Hens is out now! Check out different places you can purchase here!
This was also posted to my blog at melorafern.com