The Patience of a Writer

If you think a saint has patience, you’ve obviously never met a writer.

This month, I’ve struggled with holding the course. There’s so much going on around me, lots of change in my personal life, that keeping my head down and editing my novel has been somewhat challenging. I can’t blame it on a lack of time, though that’s a constant with a one-year-old. If I’m honest, it’s been dealing with my impatience that’s been the hardest.

I know I’m not alone. We writers toil away at our keyboards, in our notepads, alone, with the sounds of our own voices to keep us company. Our characters entertain us, and the excitement of one day having the public at large read our work keeps us moving forward, but sometimes we pick up our heads and we wonder, just where is the finish line? When will it be my turn?

The answer is, it’s anybody’s guess!

All we can do is keep at it. I allow myself a day or two (week at most) to wallow in self-pity. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a small pity party, as long as there’s an end in sight. But then, I usually get back up on the horse (or kellip if you’re reading my novel) and keep at it.

The truth is, I’m dedicated. I’ve been writing since 2004. I’ve done freelance, published a few things, and studied and earned my MFA to improve my skills as a writer. But every now and again I listen to this nagging voice that says, ‘but how much longer?’ ‘Why him/her?’ ‘When will someone say yes?’

And along with that impatience comes anger and frustration. Anger that it’s taking so long, frustration at the the process of getting published. Then I start thinking about going on my own, self-e-publishing. My writing’s good enough, my stories intriguing, but...

Perhaps I am looking for validation. Perhaps I do need the traditional publishing industry to accept me and my stories.

This is when I start to reach out to my writing friends. I ask them a ton of questions about how they got published or discuss with them the best practices for approaching agents. I update my blog. Change the layout of my website. Criticize myself for not writing more short stories because that’s how a lot of writers get started (even though at heart I’m a novelist). I buy writer’s magazines. I join websites that I know I will only ignore in a week’s time.

It’s motivation that I’m really after. I understand this, and so do my friends. They go through something similar. At the end of the day, we writers are creative--not just with our stories, but also with writing in its entirety. It’s the nature of things.

Most writers teach, conduct workshops, are freelancers, journalists, hold boring day-jobs, are high-powered executives. (We’ve got to eat.) We’re on two paths: one to publish our work and the other to look for ways that our writing can pay the bills in the interim.

I wonder how van Gogh would’ve managed today?

I recently read an interview with Sir Terry Pratchett. My favorite quote from the article:

When you can’t get cocaine, you’ve got to make do with cannabis... (The next line was that ‘Science fiction and fantasy were his drugs of choice.’)

But more seriously, what I learned from him was that you’ve got to keep at it. A lot of people say they’re writers, I mean how exotic is it to be a wine party talking about a book you’re going to write, but the real writers read, they study their genre, and they never quit.