βPatience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow – that is patience.β -Anonymous
I am not a patient woman. No sirree Bob.
I thought my daughter taught me patience (what else can you learn when you have an infant screaming at you at 3AM?), but writing a novel and attempting to get it published has taught me that you can’t learn patience.
It’s like a three-hour long class on Statistics that you had to take during the summer. You can only endure.
Chris Rickman from Upstart Crow Literary Agency posted a gem on the Ten Commandments of Publishing that you all must read. Seriously, I’ll wait. I think I can handle that much patience.
*munches some chocolate pretzels, checks email*
Okay, isn’t that time line great? Granted, I’m sure it was torture for the author, but it makes me feel better. I told a few people at the beginning of the school year that I had finished the first draft of my book and now they’re asking me why they can’t buy it from Barnes & Noble yet.
If only it were that easy.
Are you a patient person? Do you have any tricks for how to stay sane while waiting for something? I’m pounding away at Book #2- it’s keeping me sane!
PS- What do you think of the new blog background? You have no idea how long it took me to find an Egyptian background that would load right!
You blog looks great. And, no, I am not particularly patient either, specially not about things that have a gestation period longer than that of either of my kids.
~ Rayna
Patience is not my name. I endure.
The blog looks mighty fine. π
Love the new look!
Patience is a slippery little virtue. I keep trying to hang on to it but I'm Julia Roberts with some escargot. π
I used to be patient, I'm not sure where it went. An agent has been sitting with my partial for one month and 17 days and I am out of my mind wondering if she's even read it yet. When she requested it, I sent it to her within the hour. I'm assuming she put it at the back of the list. UGH!
Love the new background.
Great background!
I like to think patience is one of my stronger virtues, but I still have to keep reminding myself during this latest draft that I am making the story BETTER by doing all this work. Improvement trumps patience any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
The background adds a nice touch and looks great. Patience is not one of my virtues.
Love the new background. I also love that quote. I've never been patient. Unfortunately, this writing business requires it.
I'm generally a patient person, but I'm not perfect. Depends on the situation. Some days I'm over flowing with patience. Some days I'm experiencing a drought.
Love the new blog!
your blog looks BEAUTIFUL!
I'm kind of patient, but also not really at all. As I move through the process, I am learning why writers have reputations for being big drinkers, I think. Or at least, I can sympathize with the desire to drink with frequency.
My family does the same thing your friends do. Drives me crazy.
"new blog background"
Love it!
I am as far as a person can get from patience – always have been. When I want something, I want it yesterday. This is not a good quality for an aspiring author. π
I have zero patience. Probably less than zero. It's awful. But chocolate pretzels do help π I'm fond of the white chocolate ones. Good long with the long wait!
I don't think I've seen any relics of Hatshepsut, but I saw a ton of Egyptian relics at the British Museum. It's absolutely incredible–such a long and vast history. I was so taken by it that I made one of my characters Egyptian.
I have very little patience, but especially over events I can't control! I like being in charge, so when someone else is calling the shots or setting a timetable it drives me somewhat insane. I try to remember it takes the time it takes, but still…
Love the blog background. It's very 'once upon a time'.
Love the background!
Great post, seriously. I have little to no patience, and it's been hard for me to handle writing as an industry sometimes because of that.
Love the background!! And as for patience…sometimes I want to crawl out of my own skin but working on another book for me is the best remedy. Good luck!!
Rayna- I posted about that a while ago. Writing a book is worse than birthing an elephant!
Tricia- We should form a support group for us endurers. It's hard work!
L.T.- I love Pretty Woman! That's about how patience feels for me now too.
Piedmont Writer- Waiting for a response on partials and fulls is killer. Killer!
Matt- I've decided writing and revising is a good thing because I can control that. I like being in control.
Mason- Thanks! I feel your pain!
Susan- Someone should have warned us before we started writing. Too late now!
Stina- I wish I could be patient. Ever. It's just not my forte. Not much I can do about it though!
Amalia- Oh yes, I definitely understand the urge to drink. A glass of red wine and a good book keep me away from my inbox. That's a good thing!
Judith- Thanks!
Shannon- Yesterday would be great. The day before would be even better.
Carolina- The British Museum has a great collection- the Sphinx's beard and the Rosetta Stone especially. White pretzels are great- I like dark chocolate too.
Elspeth- I'm with you. I'm actually enjoying writing the first draft of Book #2 right now because I can control it. Thank heavens!
L.T.- I used to have no patience. Now I have smidge, thanks to my daughter. But it's not enough!
Paul- You snuck in there! If it wasn't for Book #2 I'd be in a padded room right now. With a cozy jacket with extra long sleeves.
Also: Convinced my wife to get Michelle Moran's Nefertiti yesterday. Thought you'd be happy to know that.
Matt- Yay! I hope she enjoys it!
Like the new look — though it could use a few goblins or dragons π
Bane- I'll get right on the dragons. π
I'm definitely heading over to read the publishing commandments! I'm learning that patience is the painful part of life that no one can escape.
Great new look!
Patience and me…no, we're not good friends. I am not patient. In that way, I'm totally in the wrong business!
How do I get past it? I play a lot of online Scrabble against the computer on a lower level than I should. That way, I get to feel real superior when I win.
Tamika- I'm trying to learn to endure with grace. It's not easy!
Jenna- I love your coping tactic! I might have to play some lower level Scrabble myself!
I think I'm pretty patient – there is such limited time for writing I don't expect it to move quickly. Plus I haven't even started querying yet. Maybe at that point I'll get a little more stressed. π
Jemi- I was okay with the patience while writing, revising, and waiting for betas. Not so much now that I'm past that point. Oh well. Nothing to do about it, but write Book #2!
I loved the commandments. So funny.
You new blog background is great! I've got to spruce up my blog somehow…
I love the new blog background!
And I TOTALLY commiserate on the timeline thing. Even though I flew through my part of the process, writing the book in three months and landing an agent four months after querying her, with all revisions done and the book going on submission two months after that, that's the part of the process that's in my hands.
The rest — finding an editor, massaging offers, revising with the editor, going before Acquisitions, and possibly getting rejected there and having to start all over — or if not, going on to editorial boards for more revisions, then copyediting, then galleys, then cover art…. ARRGH! Totally out of my hands. It's a LONG process. I've been trying to tell my friends and family just how long a process it is, but they're not really getting it. That is very frustrating, because it makes me feel like there's an expectation that *I* should be hurrying this process up.
It's gotten to the point that I don't like to even mention that I'm a writer to anybody I don't know, because inevitably they ask, "What have you written?" and I must explain the whole process to them. Then they always ask, "What's the book's title?" I know they mean well, but they won't remember my book's title two hours later, let alone in the fall of 2011 or the spring of 2012, which is when my book will actually be available IF IT SELLS SOME TIME THIS YEAR! And it may not! Plus, the title could change six times between now and then!
Don't even start me on the people who ask if I'm going to buy a mansion when my first book sells. I'll be thrilled if my first advance gives me enough to pay off the loan on my Hyundai.
Man, all the expectations of people who don't understand the industry! Yikes.
Lorel- Glad you like the new look. I was thrilled when it worked!
Libbie- I don't tell people I've written a book either, not anymore. There's a certain amount of disbelief on their part when I explain the difficulties of getting published and an expected time line. It will happen one day- I just have to be patient.