Insecure Writers: Patience is a Virtue

“Patience is a virtue.” – A nice boss-

Just when I was about to take a rest from the A-Z Blogging Challenge, the first Wednesday of the month pops up (*sigh*), but no worries! It’s Insecure Writers Wednesday and there are always a plethora of insecurities to discuss—kind of sad actually L

Will any of us ever get to the point where we can feel secure within, I mean even if things aren’t working out on the writing front (or any other front for that matter)? That’s a huge topic. Certainly not something I’m prepared to blog about today.

So … back to my insecurity for the month of May. Impatience. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most patient person, and, oh, how I admire the quality of patience; the ability to not be in such a rush, rush, rush, all the time, and the skill of waiting, allowing something to develop on its own time. When I was younger, a nice boss kept repeating the phrase to me, “Patience is a virtue,” and that it is.

I would like to think I have developed a bit more patience throughout the years, but I still have a long way to go. In terms of writing, I have been rather impatient lately—okay, more like forever! I want my novel edited and polished now. I want to complete a few short stories that have been buried in my files today. And I want to start sending more things out to agents and publishers now, now, now!

There is a fear inside of me that nags, “If you don’t send it soon, you’re going to miss the wave.” I write YA fiction like many other writers, and now it seems like YA is still hot, but by time I finish making my manuscript as “perfect” as it can be, then write the queries, the synopses, etc, etc … maybe I’ll be something like eighty years old and an agent will say, “You missed it, kid. YA was so early 21^st century.” Alright, a bit of an exaggeration, but do you know what I’m saying?

In addition, I get impatient with myself. Being the mother of two very young children, sometimes finding the time (and energy) to write even two hours a day is quite a feat. For example, I set out weekdays to write for 2 hours a day while the kids are napping/resting, but by the time they are settled down, the house gets so quiet. It makes me so zonked that sometimes I say, “to heck with writing today!”

So I guess I’m confronting my impatience with respect to writing.  I’ve realize that I cannot be so hard on myself when I have other responsibilities (important ones at that with children)! And personally, I would rather write one good book that I really did the best I could on, than plow through several that are not my best work, especially when I don’t have any set deadlines from a publisher (yet ;) This can only be achieved by patience.

Do you struggle with impatience at times?