Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to come up with a metaphor about the writing life that this video suggests.
Place your idea in the comments below. We are counting on your creativity!
100,000 ducks cross the road in Thailand….
It is their version of a Duck Dynasty!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxlg5unYTyU
A Matter of Experience
SIGN: ACFW Appointments Table
“Omg! Look, everybody, it’s Steve Laube!”
LOL! Good one, Pam!
It’s like writers selling their book on twitter. Who stands out?
But I also see Jesus looking over Jerusalem and saying, “How oft would I cover you with my wings, but you would not.”
So many people, so many needs.
“What authors imagine being in the slush pile is like, and *my* mss is one of those ducks.”
Or, from the publisher’s point of view,
“Waiting for the author to get all the words finished by deadline. Can’t move on it, until they are all in.”
Pam Hillman, you’ve got the best one so far!
It’s hard to get anywhere!!!
Laurie had her ducks lined up before the release of her new book. So once it hit the shelves, readers flocked to buy it, driving the book to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List. While she seemed calm as she handled multiple interviews, under the surface Laurie was paddling furiously to keep up with requests and going into overwhelm because she felt stuck in the flood of speaking engagements coming at her. The pressure of multiple deadlines and commitments had her wondering how she could do it all. She no longer felt like she was driving her own life; instead, she sometimes felt frustrated by a feeling of being stuck in the expectations others had of what she ought to be doing and who she ought to be as a NYT bestselling Christian author.
Then, she had a moment when she realized that what was being called for was to stop trying to go anywhere or do anything other than just be with her readers and her God, something the whole business model of publishing seemed to leave little time for. So she took her foot off the accelerator and used her cell phone to call the producer of the show she was rushing to get to and told him she was delightfully stuck in the best kind of traffic. She said he could send a drone if he still wanted to interview her because she was just going to sit on the side of the road for a while and do what Jesus did when the crowds flocked to Him, be in the midst of them and talk with them instead of to them or at them.
If you can’t beat ’em. Join ’em.
If you don’t join ’em, you’ll miss out on where they’re headed.
Don’t stay stranded in the car,, completed overwhelmed with what you see. Get out of the car, run with them, and give it your best shot!
It’s the polite stampede at every Christian writers conference in response to the announcement, “Sign up sheets are now available for your three 15 minute appointments with a pucblishinh industry pro.” No elbows but a lot of harried speed walking.
Hurry before the last floatie is sold!
or alternately,
Escape while you can! Duck soup is their #1 bestseller!
LOL, Pam! Good one.
Hurry before the last floatie is sold!
Spew alert needed!
Patience is a virtue. Keep going, you’ll eventually make it and there will be space for you when you get there.
I’m going with Pam’s comment…seriously! LOLOLOL
So many authors
so many books
hatched on the publishing path
How does one stand out
in the flock
not as an ugly duckling
but as a graceful swan?
Thanks, Steve, for sharing this intriguing video. I loved the man’s facial expressions. Blessings ~ Wendy ❀
‘New agent taking proposals, *slight* uptake in submissions, internet breaks.’
JK Rowling announced a re-boot of the Harry Potter series today, giving Harry a magical Thai duck named Coconut (Coco) to replace Hedwig. Thai ducks mobbed local bookstores by the thousands hoping to get a web print from one of their own.
Ideas for writing come to us at the most unlikely times and places. They surprise us and waddle forth in relentless waves, like a battalion of 100,000 panting, quack-quack-quacking ducks parading forth on our path. Such delirious joy is meant to be shared!
Man! I knew I should have flown the coop when I had the chance. Now I find myself in the middle of a marathon of unsolicited manuscripts trying to waddle my way out. Quick! Quick! Quack! Quack! Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s me trying to “duck” out of the way. Oh No! Too late! Come on, Man! Give me a little room here I want someone to pick me. Pick me! Pick me! please….Quick! Quick! Quack! Quack! Help!
Hey, where are we going any way? Slush Pile! Oh no……Qui… Qui…Quack… Qua …. All gone to duck soup heaven…
“Let the free flow flow!” So many ideas streaming through my mind at any given time! Just need to get them all out on paper and see which one actually deserves a second look. Time to edit, edit, edit before I release those ideas to the general public. No one wants to get stuck in my total free flow 😉
My writing process:
Forget the time, keep smiling, and enjoy the moment.