How to be Patient with your Writing Career

One of the core triggers for a writer’s insecurity is impatience. There’s a certain desperation to become published. We catch the dream with visions of bestsellers lists, book signings and our book with a snappy cover and our names written across the jacket. This dream, when we let it bloat into the realm of unrealistic timings and overinflated goals, can become our downfall.

This writing dream is a distant location with a long and often arduous journey to get there. We forget the travel and decide all we want is the destination. We want to be a writer more than we want to write.

We forget the joy of writing, the pure pleasure of creating something from nothing, the magic of conjuring worlds and characters, evoking emotions in others, being able to touch people with a poignant scene, to make them laugh or cry and get involved in the story. We’re too busy wanting to get published, wanting to get noticed, wanting to quit our day jobs, or whatever else it is we want right this very instant. When it doesn’t happen fast enough, we start to think we aren’t good enough and will never be good enough. The doubts start to set in and bam, we’re insecure and unproductive. We may even toy with the idea of quitting.

Talent is not a factor when it comes to writing. Some might disagree with me, but I’ll stand by this. A person with a boatload of talent, but is easily swayed by their doubts, won’t go as far as someone with less talent, but a mountain-load of drive. Natural born talent might get you started and might gain you some early accolades, but it won’t help you cross the finish line.

There’s only one way I know to be patient and that’s to enjoy the writing and to just keep writing and doing everything you can to improve. The hike will always be easier when we love it. If we don’t, then we’ll drag our feet and everything along the way will become that much harder.

Daily ask yourself what you want. Daily fall in love with your manuscripts. Enjoy the storytelling process. Be a slave to your stories. Delight in the lack of sleep because you have to wake up in the middle of the night to write down an idea.

You are a writer. Rejoice.

How do you remain patient with where you want your writing to go?
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This post was written for the Insecure Writer's Support Group where we share our encouragement or insecurities on the first Wednesday of the month (I’m day early because of the A-Z Challenge). To join the group or find out more, click here.



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I’ll be taking part on the A-Z Challenge via the Insecure Writer’s Support Group website. Today I’m kicking the challenge off with a short writing tip: A is for… Applying Yourself as a Writer.

You can also link your A-Z posts in the IWSG Facebook threads we will provide.
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I’d also love to share the exciting news that one of my wonderful critique partners, and an amazing writer, Carol Riggs, has signed a contract with Angry Robot’s YA imprint, Strange Chemistry. Her book, The Body Institute, has gone to a brilliant home after a ‘competitive bidding situation’. You can read the announcement here on Publishers Weekly. Congratulations, Carol!