Introduction

Today is my [redacted] birthday. It’s one of those milestones that gives you pause. Makes you think and worry on, what have I accomplished? I know I certainly thought I’d be farther along in some areas by now. I’d have a partner. I’d have a book deal. Neither of which have materialized.

I wish I could say blithely “But it’s okay!” but I can’t. It hurts. It strikes at a lot of my existentialism and also just genuinely sucks. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. Because today is also St. Patrick’s Day, a day of luck and good spirits, and it’s hard to be totally bleak on St. Patrick’s Day.

All we need is just a little patience

Patience is one of the most important skills you can cultivate as a writer in the traditional publishing landscape. Lucky me, the impatient one. But it’s true. From conception to publication, there are never-ending opportunities for waiting. You wait for betas to read your book. You wait for queries to get back to you. You wait on sub. You wait to announce your deal. You wait for your book to come out.

Wait wait wait.

Without patience, you will constantly be driving yourself up a wall. But it doesn’t have to be as zen as just sitting there happily waiting. I don’t know many people who can do that. Instead, it looks more like

Work on the next thing

For many people, this is going to be the next writing project or novel. If you’re always focused on the novel in agents’ or editors’ hands, it’s hard to separate yourself from it. But if you give yourself two things to hope for, it softens the blow.

It doesn’t have to be, however. One thing I did was get into short stories. They have become a relatively low stress way to weather sub because I don’t plan on making a career of them, they’re just a piece of my career. So they don’t feel as dire when I get rejections and I can actually have fun with them.

Then there are other next things. Crochet projects. Paintings. That car you wanted to fix up, maybe. Something to align with your creative juices that’s going to be low-stress and comforting so you still feel productive without the scary parts.

Conclusion

I don’t have all the answers. I wish I did. I’m actively trying to convince myself by writing this. But hopefully it gives you something to think about.

If you appreciate what I do here, I have a ko-fi. You can also check out the Kickstarter for my and M. Stevenson’s upcoming anthology, Enter Here, which goes live April 1.