– Bobby Knight
My friend, Rick the Scribe, has been overwhelmed lately. He has been doing his regular job (magazine editor) and writing a book under completely unreasonable deadline pressure. In the spare moments he can squeeze out he bangs his head against the wall for agreeing to do it. The fact is, there are reasonable deadlines and there are unreasonable deadlines. He was given (I swear this is true) one week to write an entire book. And listen to this… The amazing thing is, he did it. He turned the first draft in on time.
What person in his right mind agrees to write an entire book in that amount of time? My friend, Rick the Scribe.
When he came up for his first breath after the marathon, he called me, cell-to-cell, to let me know he made the deadline and would like me to read the first draft. He felt like it was some of the best writing he’d ever done. Said he’d send over a copy. After a couple of days of not receiving it I called him back and he told me this… “Well, my editor had a look at it and made a few suggestions and now I don’t want you to see it until I have fixed it.” He might not have used the word “fix,” but that was the meaning conveyed.
Editors!
After insisting someone write a book in a week the only thing you should do when said someone finishes that task on time is take him to dinner at the nicest restaurant in town and ply him with food and drink until he no longer wants to kill you. Or, if you are an unpleasant, hard-to-like sort of editor, send him to that restaurant with people he really likes, and then go home and eat leftovers.
Cold leftovers.
I remember hearing a writer say that it is always a mistake to enclose with your manuscript a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. It’s too much of a temptation to an editor.
Rick was then given (are you sitting down?) one week to do the re-write. The amazing thing is, he did that, too. Sent it off to the editor. I haven’t had the nerve to call him to see how it went. He doesn’t have time to answer the phone anyway.
What’s that old saying? There is never enough time, unless you’re serving it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book “Letters and Papers From Prison” wrote about seeing scrawled upon the wall of his prison cell (no doubt by the former occupant) the words, “In 100 years this will all be over.”
Or in one week if you’re on deadline.
Now that I’m thinking about it… When it comes to life, we’re all on deadline. And we don’t get to know the date. Not the hour, not the day, not even the year. Oh, it’s out there, down that road somewhere. Will it be around this blind curve, or the long straightaway, or just over that next hill? (As it is written, no one but the Father knows about "that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven.") Sometimes we feel we’ll never get there. Other times we’re aware we're rushing toward it like a speeder toward a cop with a radar gun. Gotcha!
Might cause you to wonder if you’re focused on the right thing.
And what’s the editor going to say?
(To email Brad click on his picture above right and click Email)
