Patience may be the most important quality a writer can possess. So much of writing involves waiting—waiting for inspiration, feedback, acceptances and rejections, sales, and reviews—and I have found two main realizations that have made me a more patient writer.
- You have no choice but to be patient because some parts of this business take time.
- It may be annoyingly trite, but it’s true—the process has to be what you love about writing. Focusing outside of the writing process (the part you can’t control) only makes you miserable.
With those two truths as a premise, these are some mental tricks to make my brain stop demanding to know when something will happen.
- It helps to think of your works as individual, independent entities. When you send something out into the world, think of it standing in line while you are happy at home not waiting for anything.
- Consider that you truly don’t want anyone to be in a hurry making decisions about your work. You don’t want an acceptance or a rejection based on someone’s flippant mood. You don’t want a hurried review. What you want are happy, healthy, well-rested people, and they don’t exist in an atmosphere of “hurry up”.
- With agents and publishers, the wait could be weeks or months. Some never respond. I was once accepted after a year—I had already forgotten what that story was about. The only way to maintain sanity in these long waits? Write something else!
- This is the same as number three, but it should be repeated. Releasing your work into the publishing world has to be a true release. You’ve done all you can. The ball is no longer in your court. Write something else!
- Waiting for inspiration is trickier because it feels like it should be within your brain’s power to create something new. Even so, it seems that it cannot be rushed. An attitude of expecting inspiration seems to help. Also, writing something every day without editing or judgment opens doors.
The final truth is that it will take however long it takes and when it comes to publishing, it’s unfortunately out of your hands. Even self-publishers only escape part of the frustration because they have to wait for sales and reviews. Waiting is part of the package.
Again, the best you can do is maintain focus on the one part you can control. You can keep writing.
