Writing lessons from a bobcat

We occasionally are lucky enough to see a beautiful, tawny bobcat around the edge of our property, scouting the bird feeders in the winter. Recently s/he sat for about an hour in the snow just watching the birds and the squirrels at the feeder on our deck. We enjoyed the sight of her the whole hour, wondering if she was at times asleep, as she seemed to be completely ignoring all the animal life around her. Eventually, several red and gray squirrels returned to their activity on our deck and in the yard, sometimes not more than 20 feet from the bobcat, who seemed dreamily in his/her own world. 

Then: a red squirrel must have forgotten the bobcat was there (you might have mistaken the bobcat for a rock, if you weren't careful) and ran right towards it. In a nanosecond the bobcat sprang at the squirrel, who bolted for a tree, and made it to the base, where the bobcat caught it. The bobcat then sauntered away into the wood with the squirrel firmly in mouth. 

We were amazed at the speed of the bobcat, and later learned that this is a hunting strategy often used by cats: appear disinterested, fade into the background until your prey forgets you're there, and then spring.... Certainly it looked like a more productive strategy than the lovely red fox who appeared this morning charging at the feeding squirrels and birds from across the meadow-- all the prey saw him/her coming and were safely away before the red fox could close the distance. Maybe it's better not to try so hard sometimes!

And maybe the bobcat’s hunting strategy offers lessons for writers. How often do we charge at our writing goals, overly determined, overly fixated on what we think we’re writing about, only to wind up empty-handed? Better perhaps to be more patient, allow what really matters to come to us. Which means, the bobcat might say:

Show Up

Find a comfortable seat

Be patient

Broaden your awareness to everything around you

Don’t commit too soon

And when you do- Pounce!  

So, writers—May The Bobcat Be With You!