This Fortune Cookie Told Me I Would Be a Writer, But Its Meaning Has Changed Over the Years I always took the fortune to mean that I'd be a published author. I see it differently now.
By Rosemary DiBattista Edited by Frances Dodds
This story appears in the March 2022 issue of BIZ Experiences. Subscribe »
From the time I was scribbling poems as an 8-year-old, I've dreamed of becoming a writer. As a teen, I joined school literary magazines. In my 30s, I earned my first byline. By middle age, I was finishing a full-length novel and learning how to get it published. That's when I opened a fortune cookie to find a message that read: "You are a lover of words. Someday you will write a book." Since the book was already written, that fortune could mean only one thing: publication. I computer-scanned the tiny white paper, enlarged and laminated it, and created a good-luck charm that sat prominently above my desk.
It must have worked, because against great odds, I landed an agent and a multibook deal with a major publisher. I lived the writing life I'd imagined — giving readings, attending conferences, lunching with best-selling authors. But within three short years, that dream crashed at the intersection of art and commerce: My publisher merged with another company, and I lost my editor, my book series, and ultimately, my agent.
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I kept writing. I revised three unpublished novels and completed two new ones, and I spent the next several years knocking at New York's publishing doors, none of which opened. I was ready to give up when a writer friend urged me to get my books' rights back and republish them independently. I studied my contract, crafted a careful request letter, and eventually succeeded. Then I spent lockdown learning about independent publishing and how to run a small business. Last spring, I launched my own company — Two Roses Books — through which I've since republished my first two books. It's been a steep and slippery learning curve, but it is thoroughly satisfying to have control over how my work is written, edited, priced, published, and marketed.
I still keep my laminated fortune in sight, but it carries a different meaning now. The fortune cookie said I would write a book, and I used to think that I needed other people — agents, editors, and publishers — to validate my work and realize that dream. But now I know differently. By owning my company, I also write my future.
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