Is a virtue we must cultivate daily. As writers this is a critical piece of wisdom to store in the grey matter. In this day and age it seems we are always waiting for something - the economy to improve, companies to start hiring, test results, or that e-mail from an agent or publisher.
It's easy to get trapped in the cycle of just waiting in the name of patience. I think thats why many of us don't have patience, we get confused with waiting and patience. Why do I bring this up to the Word Nerd Army? We are here to change the sentiment of books, make an impact on the world through the use of literature and to see our fellow mates published one day.
All of these things take time and therefore, patience but don't get discouraged my fellow writers for Rome was not built in a day. I believe if we continue fighting on, writing, making ourselves heard we will see a change. How long will it be before we see this change? I can't answer that but each step we take moves us closer to that day when we see the benefits of our work.
If some one learns to read or a child gets a book for a holiday that is a sign of our work here. People talking about authors and books are just the ripples in the waters of society that started when we threw the first rock of information.
Patience is what we need to remember and hold on to as we move forward in this uncertain world and even in our private lives. Patience is a virtue, true, but it is also our friend. Don't wait on patience, patience gives you the access to follow through on other projects.
Thank you Brian. You've put some great thoughts up on the blog this month and have been a great Word Nerd Knight, as has Nikesh. I hope you've both gained something from the experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Chris Brogan's book Trust Agents and you are the definition of a Trust Agent to me. Over the last year I have watched how much you have done to help other people and promote the work of others - whether they were clients of yours or not. Anyone who knows you well, knows how tolerant and selfless you are towards other writers and we're very lucky to have you in the online community.
Rebecca :)
Brian can be found here: www.The-New-Author.blogspot.com
Patience is something I was thinking about particularly during Monday's #litchat in respect to those of us who are self-publishers. It's a well-known stat that self-published books sell 40-100 copies tops. My intuition is that this is because most self-publishers try it once and give up.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started Year Zero Writers, I figured it would take us 3-5 years to get anywhere, and that each of our first books would be nothing but a platform for the second, and that for the third.
Fanbases take time to build, as does an author's voice, as do relationships in the literary world. Writing - for those who ever DO make it - is a career with one of the longest apprenticeships of any. Yet most of us expect it to happen now.
I hope I can keep my wonderful Zeroes on board for a good three years - unless you give it at least that long you can't really say you tried. So far it's been three months. I worry most days that if we don't see big results soon people will leave. Fortunately there are enough results to keep them so far - but I echo your sentiments wholeheartedly - patience.
I'm a Knight AND I get to be called sir? Awesome! :) Thanks so much. I may get new electric blue army boots for the honor.
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