I am up at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday, in front of my computer. No, it's not because I have this creative urge to work on my current book (which is, by the way, 94 percent done). It's not because I'm doing online promotion, or even obsessively checking e-mail or my Amazon rankings.
No, I am watching wood ducks. Via webcam.
Wood ducks are a brightly-colored (males, anyway) species that nest in hollow trees as much as 60 feet up. After the baby ducks hatch they get to spend one night in the nest. Then the mother duck leaves the nest and calls to her babies to join her. They must jump or climb up to the exit hole (see picture), then take a big leap of faith and JUMP down onto land or into water.
Many people build specially designed nest boxes for wood ducks because they are declining due to habitat loss. Some clever person in Greenville, Texas, has put a webcam in her nest box. I've been watching since the first eggs were laid. Yesterday they hatched! There were 19 eggs (laid by two different females) but I don't know how many actually hatched. At least 10.
Anyway, today is the day. At some point this morning, these darling little fuzzy chicks will have to make that leap of faith, braving that jump and predators to join Mom, who will escort the brood to the pond for their first swim and their first meal. Those that can't get out of the box on their own will not survive.
That's how I think of my books. (You knew I would bring this back to writing, right?) Each one is lovingly brooded and hatched, but ultimately it has to go out into the real world and sink or swim on its own merits. Some won't hatch at all. Those are the half-baked ideas and stray chapters that I give up on because they're no good. And some, sadly, will be sent out into the cruel world, only to be eaten by crows (those mean editors who send rejections!) But no matter how scary it is out there on the pond, no matter how low the chances of surival, it's still better than staying in the safety of the nest box.
Better to risk rejection than sit in a box under the bed to starve from neglect.
By the way, before I even finished this blog, all of the ducklings--15!--made it out of the nest and safely to the pond.
11 comments:
Great analogy, Kara! I see lots of similarities there. Who'da thunk it?
Bettye Griffin
www.bettyegriffin.com
Thanks for another look at the world of writing. Glad the ducks made it out. Hope my writing does.
Thanks Bettye.
Patricia--You can do it! Finish your mss. and send them out into the world! I have a really, really thick folder of rejections. They won't kill you. (Unlike evil crows, which really do eat baby ducks!)
I would have loved to have seen them and think that was a great analogy too.
Wonderful analogy. If I had known about the webcam on the wood ducks, I probably would have been sitting here watching to see if they made it too.
Cheryl
That was a great analogy, a real insight into the lives of authors. If I was throwing around the idea of submitting some of my writing, that made me think twice! LOL
Wonderful analogy. Glad the baby ducks made it safely.
catslady, cheryl, abamabecky and estella--thank you! There may be another wood duck cam set up soon. If so I will let you know.
Cool thanks for the web cam info.
Thanks for sharing your wood duck cam! What a great addition to the blog :)
very interesting and I agree with all.
robynl
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