Luck is real and sometimes you're in the right place at the right time (and sometimes - more often, really - you're not). For every successful creative person there are dozens if not hundreds of creatives of equal or better competence who didn't get that one bit of luck.

This is painfully true.

I was discussing this one day with a literary agent, “How many perfect manuscripts do you say no to?” And they told me it was far too many. The odds are so stacked against you that the lottery might be a better shot.

(Also, luck is real, but the adage "luck favors the prepared" is also real, i.e., if you've prepped yourself to capitalize on that luck, that luck can last a lot longer than it might otherwise.)

Luck is real but also there's a huge factor of educating yourself to be prepared to recognize luck when it happens. A lot of people (myself included) have missed "lucky breaks" because they didn't see that's what it was until after it was too late.

This is why the "I got here through hard work" stuff drives me nuts. Yeah, success demands hard work. Guess what? There are a thousand talented others who worked just as freaking hard in the line behind the person going off with that kind of talk. Success is multi-pronged. Luck is HUGE.

And networking is a huge part of it. I only started making money with my writing when I made friends who were already doing well at the game, and were willing to offer me a hand up to help me get started. Do not discount the value of networking, ever!

It's an unfortunate truth that it is hard to be a success when no one knows you exist. I wish there was some magic formula, but the only thing you can do is put on a smile (fake is fine if you can't manage sincere) and keep plugging away. And, yes, keep looking for some luck to cross your path.