Don't take too long on the penguin

(N.B.: If you are in any doubt whatsoever as to Klari's (and her family's) affinity for penguin-kind, please read this post about it from my regular blog.)

Several years ago, I had a conversation with my younger sister Klari, about the plethora of Mormon movies which was coming out at the time. (They seem to have dried up somewhat since then.) We were discussing what, exactly, was going badly with the not-as-good ones, and what I, as an aspiring author, could maybe learn from all this.

She told me a story about how one day, as she was sitting in the kitchen talking to a friend, her then-one-and-a-half-year-old daughter calmly walked in to the kitchen, opened one of the lower cabinets, pulled out a small stuffed penguin, and just as calmly walked out again.

"If that had been in one of those movies, they would have taken too long trying to make us laugh about the penguin. When you're writing, don't take too long on the penguin."

I believe that this is what they mean when they say to "throw the joke away". I never knew what that meant until I heard it in penguin terms.