Bunnies, Hawks, and Tongs

I was checking the plantings around my home when my dog suddenly stiffened, alerting me to a foreign guest. Now, I admit my first instinct was "snake" (since we have quite a healthy population of those errant visitors) so my finding the cute collection of cuddly critters that I did was a most pleasant surprise.

Momma Bunny had deposited a young litter of three bunni-lets practically on my back step. (see pic. of one of them)

Now I understand if she chose to have her brood so close there had to be a valid reason (either her being very young--she is, I saw her--or there are more predators than prey amongst the dense brush---fyi, true too for we just had hooty-owls babies).

So, for over a week to try to help her we checked on the brood daily, careful not to disturb their safe little haven and have been keeping the dog under "surveillance" so that she wouldn't try to literally lick them to pieces (she's a lover not a killer).

But yesterday the peaceful illusion quickly vanished when as I was out grilling on the back deck, the trio of bunni-lets took it upon themselves to discover the world. At first it was endearing as the soft little brown heads poked around the opening of the nest then tentatively hopped into the sunshine...

Yet, nature is a ruthless reality. It doesn't let you forget how fragile we all are and as a red-tailed hawk dove towards the helpless trio only to be distracted by a crazy-woman armed with a pair of bbq tongs … well, needless to say you can imagine what happened next. Yep, the bunni-lets scattered as the confused hawk plopped smack dab into the middle of them.

And if you've read this far by now you're asking what on earth does this have to do with writing because in theory this is supposed to be a writing blog, right?

Well, I do have a point as silly as it is of how this lesson applies to us as authors for in our own worlds we have a choice: we can be the Momma Bunny or the hawk.

What do it mean by that? Well, look at it this way: Momma tried her best to plan things out before she gave birth to ensure the success of her progeny. She went against her first instinct to do something just because the other bunnies did it that way then chose to do things after looking into her options.

Sure, the bunni-lets are somewhat chaotic at the moment but keep in mind that at least two are still surviving and that's what she intended--some success and a return on her investment.**

Now the hawk on the other hand thought he had it easy. "Yeah, I'll just dive right in, ignore the warnings, not circle around a few more times to scope it out…" Wrong! He just acted on impulse and quickly found out that it wasn't as easy as it seemed and even ended up losing a few tail-feathers in the process.

So, now do you see where I'm going…?

You have to realize that just like in this natural situation, you have that same choice in publishing: to look at your options and find the route to ensure your own success or just dive right into who knows what like the hawk.

The choice is yours!

(P.S. Do your research--don't risk a run-in with a woman with tongs!!!)

* * - Note: None of the bunni-lets were taken by the hawk and after a little searching we know we still have two of the three little bunnies roaming in the yard. They seem to be okay if not worse for wear and I believe mom fed them since they were still bright eyed and bushy-tailed as of last check.