Where are you on the literary food chain? With the baseball all star coming up, are you a Puig or a Pipp? Puig is the Cuban sensation who just had the best first month in baseball history. Wally Pipp was the guy who sat down and let Lou Gehrig play for a thousand straight games, the record. He died of Wally Pipp's disease.
I have friends that are working on books they will never finish. Hell, I have friends who are working on haikus they will never finish. Then there are those who say "I've always wanted to write a book."They aren't even in the game, yet . . .
I' watched Stephen King's Under the Dome the other day. Stephen King is now beyond King of the Jungle, he has other jungles that he outsources to management companies. Stephen King is now so high up that even when he writes a really good novel like his one about the Kennedy assassination, he can slip in a bad 200 pages inside the good 1,000 just for kicks. Stephen King is not just a player, he's his own commissioner of his own league-- the Bud Selig of bards.
I have friends in the majors. They are earning a living at this writing thing. They have big time agents that are ready to get them the big prize-- the movie deal, even though that doesn't seem to come in. They are like the players that play for the Pirates that you can't pick out of a line-up. Actually, I do know a guy that got in trouble, and was placed in a police line-up but that's a different story.
As for me, I put myself at Triple A ball most days. I do get paid for doing this. I occasionally get a nice-write up and even make a highlight film. I hit some homeruns now and again and filled a stadium--well I've spoken before 200 people which is a big crowd for me. Some days, I'm down in Single A--doing a signing at a supermarket and selling six books, or less . . .
To mix baseball metaphors, I'm still pitching my books, but I'm trying to hit a homerun.
Yet, I'm up working at the craft, taking the batting practice to get into the show. Puig, I'm coming for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment