The Zax

My daughter wanted to watch Green Eggs and Ham today. After agreeing, I started digging through the mass quantities of children's movies we had until I finally located it. We snuggled up on the couch together and started the movie.

I had forgotten that on the DVD there is also another short cartoon called The Zax. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, let me fill you in.

 It is about two creatures called the Zax (obviously). One is a south going Zax, the other a north going Zax. They are walking the same road and eventually meet in the middle.

After colliding with each other they argue about who is going to move. Both are unwilling to go an inch off of their designated course. And they stand there, both feet planted firmly in the ground, both unwilling to compromise, for years as the world goes on around them.

It got me thinking, how often do we do that in our everyday lives? I often tell my daughter, if something doesn't work, try to do it another way until you figure it out. But do I follow that lesson myself? I try, but I admit that it can be so very difficult. I think sometimes we get so set on the course we are on that we forget that there are many paths that lead to the same destination.

Its so easy to stare at our feet as we travel down the straight-as-an-arrow road that we believe we are on, that we miss all the signs that there are curves ahead. In these times I think there are two types of people. The ones that eventually see the curve and swerve with it, and those that go straight off the cliff, throw their hands up, and say I Quit.

And I will be the first to say the second option can sometimes be so inviting. It's much easier to give up than work through the hard times. But the rewards for sticking with it and hugging those curves (even if it takes an inch of skin with it) are, oh so great.

Getting published wasn't an easy road. I received my fair share of rejections, and will admit to getting dangerously close to falling off that cliff. When querying straight forward didn't work, I changed direction. I entered a Twitter contest.

That contest garnished some interest. I had a few full requests. I was tempted to stop there, to sit back and see what happened. But there was another Twitter pitch party the very next day...what should I do?
Finally I decided to enter it as well. The interest from one contest flowed over to the other, and I received even more requests. Now I am happily signed with Entranced Publishing.

I guess the reason behind all of this rambling is this, there is no one way to do anything. There is always an alternative, you just have to look up once in awhile to find it. Had I  stayed on the path I was on, there is a good chance I would still be stuck. Stubbornly saying,

Never budge! That’s my rule. Never budge in the least! Not an inch to the west! Not an inch to the east!
I’ll stay here, not budging! I can and I will
If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still! 

Thank you, Dr. Seuss for all of your words of wisdom.


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzP-_PoOg8k