Patience

The day after Mother's Day, it seemed only fitting to talk about something mothers have to have an abundance of, especially when their children are little. It's also something all writers have to have, and I'm about to explain why.

Patience

Just like time is something that gnaws at the back of our minds, patience is something we have to delve deep within ourselves to find -- if only to block out the annoying tick of the clock in the background.

Patience, young padawan.

But how, you ask?

Well that's simple. (Note: I didn't say it was easy)

1. Remember that not everything is going to happen according to your time table

This is the biggest thing when it comes to patience. People, especially in the States, like to think that things are going to happen according to these neat and tidy little time tables, but that's just not the case. Nothing really happens like the charts or the stars or whatever you want to consult tells you it's going to.

No, it's going to happen in its own time table, and we have to be okay with that. We have to be okay with relinquishing some control, in believing that we're going to get through all of this with a bright shiny story sitting in our laps at the end of it all.

2. Remember that it's important to take time for you

Yes, your story is important. It's probably even one of your priorities. But it is not, nor should it ever be, greater on the totem pole than you.

If you feel burnt out, it's because you're lacking in patience. The story will get written in its time, remember? So there's no problem in taking a day off to kick your feet up and binge watch Halt and Catch Fire on Netflix.

That might have been what I did on Saturday.

I'm not telling.

3. Remember that it's not you writing the story

This one is a little hard for some people to wrap their heads around, but it's not really you writing that story. The story is already written in your head somewhere, you're just transcribing it. That means it's going to be there waiting for you if you don't want to work on it right here right now.

If you're not feeling it today, then don't write today.

Why? Because if you're not feeling it, your reader (or more likely your editor, since you definitely use one) will be able to tell. 

4. Remember that your characters are not a part of you

Again, a little tricky. We writers like to think that all our characters are living somewhere in our heads, and that we all actually have some strange form of multiple personality disorder, but I'll tell you the truth:

We don't.

Even if there's a little voice from one of your characters talking in the back of your head, it's not actually a character. It's you. And it's okay not to listen to parts of yourself, for the greater good. If one of them is feeling antsy because you haven't sat down to write in the last twenty minutes, it's a pretty safe bet that you have a story coming on.

But that doesn't mean you have to write it right here, right now. It just means you have a new idea. And we have these handy little smart phones with built in notepads to write down our little ideas as we move about the day. 

5. Remember that if it's in you, it's going to come out at some point

If that story is in you, if it's gnawing at your mind even as you read this, then it's going to find its way out. It's just a question of whether it comes out now or later on down the road.

When would you rather have it happen: now or later?


So then, the real question becomes, can you find the patience inside yourself (because it is in there, whether you feel it or not) to write the story now?

If you can, then you're a writer.

If you can't, you're only an aspiring one. We'll work on you, don't worry.

[love]

{Rani D.}