WritingThoughts

It happened to one of my daughters. We had just finished eating a delicious meal at our favorite local Chinese restaurant. She broke upon her fortune cookie, and then said, “Look at this!”

We all passed around the little slip of paper that had the following words: “sometimes fortune cookies have no fortunes.”

After we got over the surprise of it, we all kind of grinned. No doubt this was humor on the part of somebody at the fortune cookie factory.

However, my daughter’s “fortune” stuck in my head. I think the humorists at the cookie factory may actually be on to something important. I think that the words apply to more than just fortune cookies.

On Taking Risks

Who do the words in the fortune cookie apply to?

• The words apply to writers. For writers, not every idea pays off. Just like you can’t tell what is inside by looking at a fortune cookie, you sometimes can’t tell when you start writing a piece how it will be received. Some articles (fortune cookies) just aren’t accepted (have no fortunes).
• The words also apply to work-at-home moms (WAHMs). For WAHMs, not every project turns out how we expect. Just like you can’t tell what is inside by looking at a fortune cookie, you sometimes can’t tell how your project will end up. Some projects (fortune cookies) just don’t work out (have no fortunes).

Does not knowing whether or not a project will be successful mean we shouldn’t take the risk? Is my family going to quit breaking open our fortune cookies because some of them have no fortunes?

The answer is “no” on both counts. We shouldn’t quit taking reasonable risks because we might fail. Our family will not quit breaking open our fortune cookies because some of them might not have fortunes.

Your Takeaway

Now, don’t leave this article thinking I’m encouraging you to take wild risks in your business. I’m not. The key word above is “reasonable.” It is prudent and wise to use all tools at your disposal to plan the outcome of your writings and projects to the best of your ability.

The point is that sometimes even well planned and executed endeavors fail. Just like it is reasonable to expect a fortune when you break open a fortune cookie, it’s reasonable to expect success from good writing. When success doesn’t happen, we need to keep going.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.