My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. That's my philosophy. ~Thornton Wilder
From a distance, the writing life looks sweet and beckons us--similar to tempting and sometimes forbidden scoops of ice cream. We drool in anticipation of having a book or series published. One tiny bite and we’re hooked. But can we eat our ice cream cake and have it too?
Sometimes the path is sweet and smooth like French Chocolate Silk. We’re dripping with good ideas and life is Peachy. Like kids we gobble it up straight from the carton not breathing while we stuff another spoonful into our eager mouths.
Other times it's a difficult Rocky Road. We may waffle, churn or become lactose intolerant at blocked ideas. Then--brain freeze. I scream, you scream, we all scream. We keep going even though we have many interruptions from Ben, Jerry and Chubby Hubby®. We sit so long in front of the computer we get Cinnamon Buns.
Like an anticipated scoop of ice cream that suddenly falls and splats on the ground, a promising book deal is axed and our creation criticized and rejected. We feel like we're going bananas. We throw our hands up and yell, "Nuts." Disappointment sets in as our enthusiasm slowly melts away.
What do we do? We take our licks and start over beginning with scoops of hard work and determination then liberally pour on acceptance of ourselves and the situation. We finish with sprinkles of hope and add a loud cheer on top. Good Humor is restored and writing is fun again. Just remember that when the chocolate chips are down and you falter, don't feel whipped. Yell, “Yes Pecan®!”
May you publish so often that you are rolling in Cookie Dough and find a pot of gold at the end of your Rainbow Sherbet.
Happy National Ice Cream Month!
Is your writing on a Rocky Road this week or are you on the path to a Gold Medal Ribbon®?
It's been overly hot here; we have no A/C and I've spent the last several days working on eliminating all my "favorite" excess words from my next novel, Cabin Fever.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm hot and cranky and could use the ice cream.
The good news is the heat is breaking today and once I examine every "that" (762 of them in 89,000 words) to make sure each is needed, I'll be ready to ship Cabin Fever to the beta readers.
~ Jim
I need to revise my novel, but the short flavors this summer are delicious--Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla. All summer I've gone from one flavor to another. The freshly churned shorts turned peachy. But I found they melt too quickly. I need to return to novel revision lickety-split. My novel revision feels like Rocky Road. But I'm working on adding even more chocolate, marshmallows and caramel. Nuts! The ingredients are here, churning, giving me brain-freeze, and without bananas for structure it's a gooey and melting mess. When my ice cream freezes and solidifies, I'll make a novel banana split that I can share.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on getting Cabin Fever in shape for beta readers, Jim!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the heat is breaking for you. It's been miserable this year.
Nice, E.B.! I'm glad the short flavors have been tasty for you this summer. I look forward to your novel banana split :)
ReplyDeleteKara, it's your fault that I'm craving ice cream now--at 9 am! ;>)
ReplyDeleteWhat a chilling post!
ReplyDeleteLinda, ice cream at 9am may be just the thing we need to get through this hot summer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the smile, Warren.
Great play on words here, Kara! Really made my mouth water for some ice cream. :o)
ReplyDeleteI love your yummy post. In fact, I had to dig out the Moose Tracks ice cream and have a dish of it. Usually, I'm so good, too, and the half gallon can last several months.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alyx! I've had ice cream cravings today, too, and confess to eating a spoonful of Chocolate Therapy just a minute ago.
ReplyDeleteThat’s a fun name for an ice cream flavor, Gloria. I had no idea how many types of unusual flavors were available until I wrote this blog. There’s one for the adventurous eater called, Cold Sweat, made with three kinds of peppers and two kinds of hot sauce. The ice cream shop in North Carolina makes customers sign a waiver before eating it.
ReplyDelete