Writing and fishing

I’m sitting on the dock this morning, my fishing rod baited
with a shrimp and hoping to catch some lunch when a strange thought occurred to
me. Fishing and becoming a successful author are similar activities. Except
when you’re fishing, you use bait to catch stuff and when you’re a writer you
use your books to try and catch something, that something being an agent,
publisher, or audience. The analogy expounds even further. With fishing, the
quality of bait is directly related to the amount of fish it will attract. An
author’s book is like that. Better quality books attract more of an audience.
When I throw my fishing bait into the ocean I never know what I will catch.
Much like writing a book and then putting it out there on the internet for
readers to find. You never know what’s going to happen or how many readers
you’re going to attract. That’s why fishing appeals to me almost as much as
writing does. The unknown of what may happen, what you may reel in. Or maybe
it’s because I’ve been doing a lot of both while on vacation. My next post may
be titled, Writing and Limes. Can anyone say Margarita?

Oh, and a quick writing tip that I’ve discovered can really
give your books an immediate boost. Read each sentence you have that begins
with THE and then read the sentence aloud without THE. See if THE can be
eliminated. If it can, see how much stronger the sentence becomes.

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