Writing - An Art of Patience

Have you ever seen a little kid write? They speed through in order to get to their favorite part - writing the words THE END. Often those two words take on such meaning that they cover all the remaining space on their paper. I've seen young writers spend more time writing The End then they did writing the rest of their words.

One of my first jobs working with third grade writers? Making sure they never write The End again.

Writing is a process. A process that takes a very, very, very long time. From idea to completion can take weeks, months, even years. And when you want to be a published writer, not only are you waiting for yourself, you wait for a lot of others.

Waiting for your critique group to finish their critique.
Waiting for an agent to respond to your query with a request.
Waiting for response to your partial or full.
Waiting for an agent to say "yes."
Waiting for your contract.
Waiting to share the news.
Waiting for your agent's editorial letter.
Waiting for your agent to tell you you're ready for submission.
Waiting for editors to respond to submissions.
Waiting for an editor to say "yes."
Waiting for your contract.
Waiting to share the news.
Waiting for your editor's editorial letter.
Waiting for your editor to accept your revisions.
Waiting for that final book birthday that turns you from writer to published author.

Is your head spinning? Mine is.

My point and my advice, learn patience. And make sure to find a group of writers to support you through this process. You will be doing a lot of waiting, but waiting is a lot more fun when you are waiting with friends.

Blog post update: My friend, the talented author Sarah Darer Littman, recently sent me a song to get me through the waiting. Here it is: