by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted
The writing industry is like a giant water wheel.
It’s huge, filled with buckets, and it turns constantly. Now you ask, “What is
she talking about?” It was a somewhat lame attempt at vivid description, and if
you’re willing to bear with me – you’ll see.
When I was a child, my cousin and I loved going to my
grandmother’s house. She lived deep in the country, and about a mile from her
house was a grist mill. Fully functioning.
We’d traipse through the creek, jump on rocks and
make our way to the mill. On the side of a barn-type building, stood a huge
wheel that turned at the speed of molasses. Water from the creek was forced
through a trough, filling each bucket that surrounded the wheel. As the buckets
filled with water, the wheel turned. When the water buckets made it to the top
of the wheel, they caught on a wooden bar that tipped and emptied them back
into the creek. This turning wheel was attached to a gear inside the mill with
two huge, round stones. The farmer would dump scoops of dried corn kernels onto
the wheel, lower the top stone, powered by the water wheel, and as the stones
turned they crushed the corn into . . .
you guessed it – flour.
I tell you this because, this is how the writing
industry works. Once you get your head around the concept, then rejection
letters aren’t quite so bitter.
