Dear Writer, Patience is a Habit

Dear Writer,

Patience is a habit. This is something that we learn so quickly in our careers. Whether we're writing, sending out a copious number of queries, or waiting for an agent to tell us that they want to represent our novel, we learn to be patient.

Veronica Roth put it best: "writing+ the desire to be published=waiting."
I have been writing since second grade. I remember having to create a "white book" where I wrote little stories about how I love to eat eggs (which I now abhor, haha), about how I love my mom, and about flowers.  It was fun to write for writings sake back then, but nowadays I write because i'm not only driven to do it, but because I have something to say and I want to share it with people. You want to share it with people! Maybe you read a paragraph out to your cat during your morning tea, or maybe you slip a copy in front of your teenage brother to see if he likes it; your cat likes it, so your brother should too! You stare lovingly at your sprawling collection of books and, if even for a moment, briefly think to yourself: this could be me. You write and wonder when it will be your time to walk into Barnes and Nobles and see your book on a shelf-- No shame, I do it all the time.

I feel something really good rising in my life. I can taste victory on my tongue. I'm not too sure what that victory will be, but I feel it because I refuse to quit. I refuse to become impatient with the writing process. I realize that success is a creature of habit. Instead of spending as much time watching Korean dramas on DramaFever, I write. Instead of hanging out with my friends as much as I wish I could, I write. Instead of spending time with a significant other, I write (and do homework, and workout,  and go to Church, and sleep, and then write again). My success is important to me.

I have realized that I habitually have to be patient. So many would-be published authors quit before their sun can ever fully rise. They quit because they're tired of waiting. They've lost their zeal and patience for the publishing process. They have lost their desire for success and writing. The worse thing that can befall a writer, in my mind, is that they stop writing because 20 agents or publisher's didn't love their work. I have learnt that I have to write instead of mope about an agent rejecting me. I have to write and revise instead of being upset that my poem or short story received an honorable mention instead of a 1st place cash prize. I have to write and not worry about the people who think that i'm just some crazy woman that sends letters to strange people in the hopes that they'll like my story. I have to dream, and love life, and love books, and love people in order to write stories that mean something. I have patience with my practice (my habit/my craft) because I always envision that my success is rounding the corner; it is almost fully above the mountain peaks, it is dazzling and shimmering before me. I taste success on my lips at all times, because I strive for it, desire it, and am patient for it.

I write, because what else would I do with this singular and marvelous life?


Why do you write and what keeps you patient? Tell me in the comments.

Much Love and Peace,

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