Writing has been compared to many things: creating great food from a recipe, a long, arduous journey, a trip to the circus.
I once compared it to Family Court – The writing life is like family court only family court was more fun.
My favorite comparison is Vaughn Roycroft’s What building my house taught me about writing. A must read for every writer!
I was struggling with a short story while watching a baseball game (Go Phillies!). And boing! I realized, “Hey, writing is like baseball!”
The writer is the pitcher
Consider the writer as the pitcher – the dude on the mound. But the pitcher is not the only player on the field.
Long fly ball or an infield out
You pitch the ball and the batter hits it. It’s a long fly ball! The center fielder snags the ball, throws it to the cut-off man, the cut-off man throws it to the plate – runner out!
You pitch the ball. The batter hits it. The shortstop snags it, flips it to the second baseman, the second baseman throws to the first baseman. Double play!
You may have pitched the ball, but you weren’t the only player handling it.
Your pitching coach
Do you have a pitching coach – an expert editor? She/he tells you where the ball was dragging, where it was too high, where you lost control.
Your team 
Is the pitcher the only player on the field? No! The pitcher has eight other guys on the field with him and a load of other players in the dugout.
Think about all the friends and associates who follow your Fan Page, your beta readers, your blog followers, the people who allow you to guest post. These people are your team.
Looking good on the mound
Let’s not forget the uniform guys. The ones who make you look good when you go out on the field. Imagine what a book cover designer can do for you.
The Iron Horse
Lou Gehrig played for the Yankees until his stellar career was cut short by ALS, now commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Gehrig played from 1925 to 1939 and made it to the field for 2,130 consecutive games. This streak was considered unbreakable until Baltimore’s Cal Ripken, Jr., broke Gehrig’s record in 1995. Ripken went on to play 2,632 games.
Moral of the story…writing – and incredible baseball stats – is a long-haul sort of thing.
Don’t be an ass-terisk*
A few players are listed in the baseball record books with an asterisk. Why? They cheated to achieve their monumental goals (remember the writer guy who paid a few thousand people to write awesome reviews for his book?).
Let’s keep it simple – do not cheat.
See you at the Series
No player gets to the World Series by playing just one or two games. You have a long spring training and a long season ahead of you. And sometimes, you might have to wait several seasons to get the recognition you deserve.
So wind up, and keep pitching.
What other activity can you compare to writing?
Karen R. Sanderson 
Love this! Especially since I love both writing AND baseball. The writer could be the batter too, with most of the other analogies holding strong. Certainly any professional sport lends itself to being an apt comparison to writing in that they require practice, commitment, skill, and teamwork. You win some; you lose some; and some get rained out. 🙂
I am a huge baseball fan as well, Elizabeth. Some get rained out – I didn’t even think of game delays or cancellations. That could certainly be added to the article!
Thanks for the ‘pitch’ of inspiration! I like that you admit that writing can be as boring as watching a baseball game sometimes, just waiting waiting waiting for that ‘good play’ to occur. But we have to keep on playing (writing) to hit the ball out of the park at least once!
Who said baseball was boring? 🙂 Lots of mundane pitches (sentences) and then bam! You come up with a stellar 99-mile-an-hour fastball.
Okay, I’ll admit it – I sometimes take a nap during a boring game, especially if a warm summer breeze is wafting through an open window.
Shoot, here I am late to the game, but glad I made it before the 9th inning.Absolutely this post is a home-run in every way. I love the analogy here as much as I LOVE baseball. It truly is a sobering thing to consider that what so many think of as a solitary existence is actually a team sport if we aspire to do it successfully–and well.
Looking over my own team (and sadly, there are some players I’m leaving on the bench until they pick-up on their performance!) it’s my new coach that has me feeling like I just might be on my way to winning the series. Batter-up baby!
It’s not over until the last out, Barbara. I know the writing itself is often a lonely place, but once all that is done, we have consulted, and will continue to consult, with so many – both in online chats and personal messages, through editing and proofreading, having others assist with the book cover, etc. Game on!