Harriet Beecher Stowe
I admit I have not been patient in my life. I have wanted things to happen when I wanted them to, and this impatience has caused me more struggles than I had to have. Patience is indeed a virtue and I have finally learned that "good things come to those who wait." Sometimes waiting a little longer and not giving up will give you what you want, most of the time. I was thinking about the patience writers have to have for every aspect of writing. It is a very competitive field, not as many books are being published, and you really have to stand out in the crowd to get noticed. The writer lives a roller coaster life, juggling family, work, friends, writing and everything in between. This is where patience comes in, it is an attitude and state of mind. It takes discipline and training your mind to keep moving forward when things around you are not going quite the way you would like them to. Needless to say, acquiring patience is not easy, but I believe that you need to acquire it if you are to keep sanity in your writing life. A few things a writer needs to have patience for:
No time to write
Not enough time to write
Writer's block
Find writing voice
Wait for inspiration and creativity
Deal with inner critic
Draft, edit and reedit
Meet deadlines
Find an agent, editor, publisher
Write queries
Rejection
Book marketing
Book sales
Deal with book critics
Balance life and writing life
My friend, Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego wrote an article about patience as it deals with weight control. Some key buzz words I learned from her post were: "turning everything over to a power greater than yourself", "not give up", "make peace with self", "body, mind, spirit healed", "trust the plan" (the one you make to achieve your goal(s), "confidence soared", "spirituality strengthened". According to her, these words will come from practicing patience, especially with the goals you set for yourself.
How have you disciplined yourself to be patient? What other things, as a writer, have you had to have patience for?
Flickr photo: avrdreamer
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11 comments:
"good things come to those who wait".
Patience is like blossoming of flower.
I'm always trying to find the time to write. Those occasions seem few and far between. I get impatient with myself when I can't "produce" anything when I do allot the time. I have to remember to have patience because my poetry "muse" doesn't necessarily jump when I call. I have to wait and see what this muse unfolds for me. Sometimes it is at an inopportune time. I've been inspired when I'm making sandwiches for the kids. Hands covered in peanut butter, I have written a line or two of verse on a paper towel. You respond when you can.
I have now realised that as I make time to even have a shower, fold the laundry or make dinner, I must find time to write. When I write I am a better person. Period. I need not only patience, but more commitment. And like Septemermomn, I get inspiration at the most inopportune moments, when I cannot get to a note book or paper towel even. It is at these times I need patience the most..
Printemps, I like your analogy. I never thought of it like that.
Septembermom - I know it can be frustrating when you can't think of something to write about and when you have something to write about and somehow, because you are involved with something else, can't put it in writing. I get moments that something will come to me while I am driving. I keep a small notebook in my purse but can't stop the car to write. So I try to remember what I want to write until a red light or I stop at my destination.
Mervat - I agree with you, I feel good when I write. It is just being patient, like you said, when you can't do it at the moment you might want to. It is a committment and a big one. That is why I think patience is important, one has to be patient with oneself and the circumstances in your life that might keep you from writing.
I carry a voice recorder round with me and it's always there at my bedside when I wake inspired in the middle of the night. All it takes is a couple of sentences to get my mind working next day. I learned more patience that way too.
Patience is something I am learning each day. It is not a virtue that comes naturally to me. I'm in too much of a struggle with time. I just want to make something of it. Very hard.
I have to resist the urge sometimes to not "Hurry up and be patient!"
Sometimes patience is not needed with yourself in the writing process and activities. Those acts can at times be absolute creative bliss. I find I occasionally need more patience with the people around me that don't quite understand that I'm really "at work" when I'm writing and would prefer not to drop what I'm doing to come to their beck and call.
I know that patience to me has not come easy either. I am still working at it. It is true, besides being patient with yourself, you have to learn to be patient with those around you that might hinder your creative process in writing.
Thank you, The Old Gray Egg, for your comment and for visiting.
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