Ha! I know what you’re thinking! This is an article on ‘how to get lucky’ by Sable Hunter and I write erotic romance. You’re thinking that I’m talking about sex! Ha! After all, I’m always talking about sex. And while I intensely hope that me and you both ‘get lucky’ as often as possible, that’s not what I’m referring to.

We are nearing St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday associated with four leaf clovers and the color green, both of which are intertwined with the belief and the hope of attracting luck into our lives.

I am not a lucky person, normally. I was never the one picked or never the one who bought the winning ticket. But I was lucky in other ways.

There are some moments in life that define us. Moments remembered because your life can be divided by that moment. You’ll always remember that things happened before or after that pivotal time.

One such moment for me was the day Nana found me lying on my bed bemoaning the fact that nothing ever went my way – the guy I wanted to ask me out didn’t, I’d fallen off my horse into a bed of poison ivy, (ha-ha! Funny now, not funny then) – my home permanent had gone completely berserk and now I looked like I was permanently frightened.

She came up to me and asked me what was wrong. Instead of detailing all of those above unfortunate happenings, I just surmised. “I’m so unlucky! I’m the unluckiest person in the world!”

Then she said something – something I’ll never forget.

She said: “Get up off that bed, girl. You make your own luck in this life. Laying there feeling sorry for yourself won’t bring you a dang thing but bed sores. Figure out what you want and make it happen.

I sat up and wiped my eyes and asked her, “how?”

She smiled and crooked her finger and said, “Let me show you.”

From that moment, I began to learn that luck is not some nebulous possibility, but something we carefully set up to happen in our lives like lining up dominoes – one push and things start to happen – one after the other.

Now, I’m talking about two things here – one is concrete smart-ass planning, knowing what you want and going for it. The other is more mystical. You all know that I believe in the esoteric, the magical, the wonderful intriguing idea that we can connect to the power of the universe and draw things to us. The law of attraction. In other words – good luck isn’t random – IT’S PLANNED!

So, what do you want? On this St. Patrick’s Day when you’re wearing green and pinching good looking guys on the butt – when you’re celebrating with four leaf clovers and drinking green beer. WHAT DO YOU WANT? To be loved? To be rich? To get your book written? To be a best seller? What do you want? Do you know?

Knowing is essential. But once you know, once you have a goal – then you can work toward it.

Let me give you a crash course on getting lucky. Haha – I love to say that.

Okay – Rule No.1 – – memorize this. Whatever you want to accomplish will be made up of two essential ingredients. Good planning and good luck. You can’t let things just happen, you have to put your nose to the grind stone. In my case, you have to write a good book. I put in the hours and the blood, sweat and tears and created a product that was the very best I could do. And I promoted it to the very best of my ability – but then I also know that there are ten thousand other books out there as good as mine – how do I get mine to stand out – beyond a good plot and promoting it to death, what is that other essential ingredient.

That ingredient is luck – the miraculous astounding series of serendipitous happenstances that make people notice me and mine above others. It can’t be planned, it can’t be bought – it can only be WILLED.

In other words – RULE 1 – The first step in controlling your luck is to know that LUCK exists.

Rule No 2 – Position yourself in the flow. You can’t hide your light under a bushel and you can’t just expect the rains of good fortune are going to pour over you if you’re not standing out in the open where it can hit you. In my case, I network, I meet other authors, I interact with my readers, I position myself where the action happens. Now, I don’t go to live events – that’s not my cup of tea, but if its yours, more power to you. Whatever your hope and dream is – if you’re looking for a man, you won’t find him on your couch. If you’re wanting to get rich…. Well, let me tell you a joke to illustrate that point. (A man started praying intently to win the lottery. On his knees, he would beg – “Please Lord, let me win the lottery. I need to win. My family deserves to win. Please! Please! I beg of you!” He waited and nothing happened. Over and over, he prayed and wished and begged. And nothing. FINALLY, the Lord answered and he said – Give me a break! Buy a lottery ticket!) Now, that’s what I’m talking about – GET IN THE FLOW – Do your part and then position yourself through whatever means, be it social media to attract attention to your book, go to a club to find a guy, go to an audition if you want to be an actress – – BUT GO WHERE THE ACTION IS – GET IN THE FLOW! You can’t be in the right place at the right time if you don’t go anywhere.

Rule No. 3 – I wanted to write a book years before I did. Why didn’t I? I was afraid to risk it. I was afraid of being judged, of being criticized. I finally got past that by writing something I wanted to read. I pleased me. And then I figured if I liked it, someone else might to. So, I took a gamble. I risked it. Not a risk that would bankrupt me. But a risk I could live with. But if you aren’t willing to take a risk, you’ll never achieve anything. Risk puts you in the position to win.

Rule No. 4 – Luck has to be wooed. By the very definition of the word, luck is a chance thing. It originates not only within you but from some other source. You might call it religion or you might call it the supernatural – but some realization that other factors or powers or at work is essential in upping your chance of getting ‘lucky’. Now here is where I’m going to elaborate on my own experience. Don’t get me wrong. I work hard. From early to late. I write and I plot and I promote and I have good people who help me. But I also woo luck in the way my Nana taught me to do it. We were always a family who understood the meshing of beliefs. My family was religious – we would go to Mass in the morning but we made mojo bags in the afternoon. I had a great-grandmother who was a midwife, the area healer. Another who read tea leafs. Another who had second-sight. The supernatural was all too natural for me. So, Nana, and others in my family taught me the value of wooing luck. To pray, to wish, to will what you want to come true into existence.

Now here is a photograph of my Irish clover. It’s sitting in a genuine piece of Irish china called Beleek, look at that beautiful mystical shape. I’m keeping this next to the place where I write – ha! – it sure can’t hurt.

Nana taught me how to centralize my wooing of luck, how to condense my willing of events into focus points by using herbs, jewels, candles, colors and oils associated with luck to give me a concrete material reality to hold in my hand. We call it a mojo bag. And you make these mojo or gris-gris to help you with anything from finding love, to drawing money to protect you and to create ‘luck’.

When I make a bag for good luck – there are several good choices. Green is of course applicable. If you’re writing, then orange is for creativity. Gold is for power and that is one that always applies.

Inside the bag I put stones – – jade is excellent for good luck (its green) citrine and aventurine are good if you want your luck to make money. Pink quartz is also an excellent power source.

If you have a buck-eye seed to put in it, you’re even better off.

I also put specific herbs in my bag – – a clover for luck, parsley and basil are good for money, rosemary for power. You can look those up on the internet, they are myriad.

I also have a little talisman, a symbol of femininity – that’s me! I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR.

I also anoint these things with High John the Conqueror oil cause that’s what Nana said fueled my luck.

And I didn’t forget. I also put a little slip of paper in the bag with my wish or intent written on it. When I’m feeling very ambitious, I will burn a green candle or an orange one to help send my wishes to the skies.

Here’s a photo of the bag I made before I made the New York Times and USA Today Best Seller list – – now I’ll be honest. Look at those rules above. I wrote a book – BADASS and I worked hard at it. I did the very best I could. And I networked, I teamed up with other authors and we promoted the hell out of it. And we took a risk – we put it out there. It was not happenstance we WORKED AT IT. But then, luck came into play. On that particular week there were literally thousands and thousands of other good books for sale – hundreds of other boxsets – – loads of talent and worthy people.

But we made it. We were LUCKY.

This mojo bag below might not have done it, but I made it, I wished, I prayed, I willed. And you know what – – it sure didn’t hurt. I GOT LUCKY!

Want some fast luck? Try this recipe – – Pick out a bottle that is either in your lucky color or means something to you – one that will hold more than 3 ounces.

On the first Tuesday after a new moon, as the moon is growing, mix 3 ounces of sunflower oil with 12 drops of cinnamon oil and 12 drops of pure vanilla extract. Stir it 12 times in a clockwise motion and WISH FOR WHAT YOU WANT. Store in the bottle and use that oil to anoint your gems, your candles, your jewelry, anything around you that will keep that luck near.

Lastly, here is my own private special recipe that I drink for good luck – when I’m starting a book, while writing it, while wishing for it to sell well – – here goes.

I start with green tea (get it? Green!) and I make enough for several sippings, so I use 3 cups of green tea. Next, I mix a cup of pomegranate juice. Pomegranates are a very powerful mystical fruit – their seeds are eaten to draw what you want to you, be it love or money. Then I infuse it by the straining ball or a little bag if you don’t have it, with 1 teaspoon of cloves and 1 teaspoon of allspice – both herbs for good luck. Lastly, I sweeten it with honey, a pure substance that is used in many magical sweetening spells when you want to butter up a situation on your behalf. I let it steep for a few hours before I heat and add the honey – I use a tablespoon per cup – cause I need lots of sweetening up.

Now, to get back to business.

Ryan and I are finishing ONE MAN’S TREASURE – a standalone book in the Hell Yeah! series about motorcycle riding, MMA fighting, tattooed military hero hunk JET FOSTER and his Sami. I won’t give away the story line, but its coming along well and will be hot and a tear-jerker with an HEA of course. Here’s a short, fairly clean excerpt – – haha – with all the sex Ryan and I write, it was hard to find a pure spot – – You can look for it before month’s end.

ONE MAN’S TREASURE –

Wait till you see the coral reef.” Jet said as he let down the ladder. “Have you ever snorkeled at all?”

“No, I haven’t, but I’m game,” Sami grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Following him to the storage bin, she took the mask, the snorkel and fins he offered. As he’d been with all things, Jet was patient as he explained how to use it all.

There was so many things she wanted to tell him, and none of them had a thing to do with snorkeling. It made her sad to think that he’d never know how much she loved him. For now she smiled and followed his lead, wondering why they’d sailed east of Havana, when she’d been expecting him to put her off at the port so she could buy a plane ticket back to Mexico. Sami expected they’d have another heated discussion about where she should or shouldn’t be going, but he didn’t know the whole story and she wasn’t about to ruin their last few hours together by telling him all of her troubles.

Sami had no desire for Jet to learn about her illness, she didn’t want his memory of their time to change or for him to look at her with pity as she told him goodbye.

“Stick close to me,” he instructed as he adjusted her mask. “Now, let’s go!” They dove over the side and once they broke the blue surface, an underwater wonderland awaited. A massive coral reef was laid out like ornamentation in a giant aquarium. At first Sami kept close to Jet, enjoying the fish he pointed out. She recognized some from her many hours of devouring the Discovery Channel – there were blue and yellow angel fish, black and white butterfly fish and an orange damselfish. After she calmed a little, Sami ventured off, darting forward to check out this fish and that one, her excitement making the trips to the top for air something she put off until she was about to pop.

“I love it!” She announced with glee when they surfaced the second time.

“Ready to go back to the boat?” He asked, worrying if she was tired.

“Not on your life!”

The next thing he knew, her delectable bottom bobbed in front of him and he had to resist the urge to pinch it. With a smile, he followed her back down, loving the way she played, the happiness in her eyes. This was a good fish day, they managed to see an octopus, a Caribbean reef squid, a spotted scorpion fish, a porcupine fish and an indigo hamlet. It was a good thing he stayed close, because a wavy movement in the coral alerted him and he spotted a lion fish, a very poisonous specimen lurking in the coral. Grabbing her arm, in pulled her in the opposite direction. There was no danger from it unless she touched it – the very thought made him shake. Then when he saw a school of small fish behaving erratically, Jet expected more trouble and he took her by the hand, pulling her upward as a barracuda swam by. There was no use taking chances.

When they broke the surface, Sami gasped. “I’m not finished! Let’s do it some more.”

“We’ll do ‘it’ some more, but it won’t be snorkeling. Get your cute butt up that ladder.” He patted her on the ass, loving the entrancing sound of her laughter.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Sami threw her arms around his neck. “I enjoyed that so much!”

Wanting only to please her, Jet decided to move a little farther down the coast to get away from the danger of the barracuda. “Let’s try a little deeper spot, we’ll put on a light tank and I’ll show you a shipwreck. Would you like that?”

“Yes!” She was ecstatic. Sharing things with Jet like this was amazing. She listened carefully while he taught her basic breathing instructions for the diving gear.

“What are we going to see?” Since she wouldn’t be going with him to the San Miguel, this was the next best thing.

“In 1999, a team of divers investigated the waters around parts of Cuba and located over 400 shipwrecks. This part of the world is a veritable treasure hunter’s paradise. The last time I was down here with Victor, we checked some of them out. What I’m about to show you is one we spotted, but we didn’t get a chance to investigate closely. The likelihood of our finding anything is slim, but you’ll enjoy seeing what’s exposed above the sea floor.”

They didn’t move far, maybe a half mile before he dropped anchor and they were in the water once more. This time instead of a coral reef, there was more open water, seaweed and what looked to be timbers sticking up from the sand. Jet held out his hand and she took it. He was watching her carefully and had leaned close to check the gauges on her breathing apparatus a couple of times. Swimming near, Sami’s eyes bugged to realize she was staring at the skeleton of a ship, a ship that had sailed before the United States became a country.

Jet checked everything out, making sure there were no sharks in the area before turning loose of her hand and letting her swim around. She was a brave little thing, he was surprised to find out how much he enjoyed doing this with her. Never a complaint, she didn’t argue with him, followed directions and her enthusiasm was off the charts. Sami was a pure pleasure to be around – and he wasn’t the least bit prejudice.

With a camera he had attached to his belt, Jet took a few photos for his files. Moving farther into the wreck site, he became absorbed with what he determined was part of the bow protruding from the sand. When something thumped him on the back, Jet jerked, whirling around, halfway expecting to face off a shark. Instead he found Sami, gesturing wildly for him to follow her. What had she found? He swam alongside her, down the length of the wreck to a clump of rocks. When she moved to the bottom, tugging on something half buried, he came closer to investigate. Jet helped her brush aside some sand and what he saw amazed him – it was a Madonna, a statue of the Virgin Mary cast in what he assumed to be solid gold. Holy f…, even thinking the word seemed sacrilegious at the moment. But Christ! He tugged at the piece, it had to be over two foot tall and weigh fifty or so pounds. Giving her a nod, he hefted it up in his arms and followed her to the surface.

As soon as they swam up to the ship, Sami was halfway up the ladder before she hollered back down. “Don’t try to climb with it, I’ll get a rope and you can tie it around her and I’ll hold it till you can pull her up.”

Her plan sounded reasonable. Jet’s heart was pounding so hard that Jet thought it would burst from his chest. When she returned with the rope and jumped back in with him, she kissed him soundly. “Is this good? Will it help you?”

“Baby, you found a true treasure. We’ll have to report it, of course, but this could make you a rich woman.” He slipped the rope around it and tied a secure knot. Looping the rope over a ladder rung, he gave her the end. “Hold on, I’ll pull it right up.” Jet climbed and soon he had both ladies on board, Sami and the Madonna.

Kneeling next to him on the deck, Sami reverently touched the figure. “This is crazy.” She looked up at him. “I don’t want any money, I have everything I need. Whatever you get for it, you and Nemo keep it.”

Jet didn’t understand. “You found it, I didn’t.”

Sami settled by him, her legs crossed beneath her. “You all but pointed me toward it, this is your site. I’m just glad you shared the experience with me.”

Then, he picked up her hand and kissed it. “I’m not saying it makes sense, but I need you on this trip. You’ve turned out to be my lucky charm.”

THERE I WORKED IN SOME LUCK!!!!! – ONE MAN’S TREASURE where Jet Foster finds out what matters most to him.

You can find me on Amazon and at sablehunter.com and on FACEBOOK.

NOW FOR A CONTEST – – –

What are you wishing for? What wish would you whisper as you rubbed a four leaf clover between your fingers? We will pick a random winner and I – I PERSONALLY – will make you a mojo bag appropriate for your wish.

BAM!

Thanks – Sable Hunter

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