I Don't Have The Patience For Writing

What if I don't have the patience to write?

Patience for writing.  This is something I have been asked before.  Truth is, you don't need patience.

You don't need, even, devotion.  Even inspiration.  Just interest.

That's all.  If you're interested in writing, you can write a novel.  Now I can't promise you'll hit the New York Times bestseller's list, but if you want to write a novel, you can write a novel.  To make a career out of it, you need to have an intense devotion to it.

But if you just want to write as a hobby or for leisurely fun, you should have no problem with silly "patience".  And patience to write is also something you will learn over time if you do want to make a life out of writing.  All in time, of course (and a lot of patience!  Oh, wait . . .).

 But there's more to patience than just that, right?  Yes.

Determination.  Persistence.  You might not need the patience to write, but you need the determination.  If you don't have it, get it.  Force it on yourself.  Discipline yourself.  And if you want to write regularly, set up a schedule that you will follow.

If you want to consistently write every day, try the 100 for 100 on the Go Teen Writers website.  You write 100 words a day for 100 days.  And of course if you want to keep going that day, write more than a hundred words.  The point is not to get a lot done, but to get it done consistently.

If there is anything in writing you need more than anything else, it's determination.  This is all writing really is;

10% skill, 90% persistence idiocy.

An exaggeration, of course.  But the point is brought across.  And if you don't have the persistence, that's something you can train yourself to have.  Do writing challenges - and tell your friends you're doing them.  That will put some heavy-handed pressure on you to actually finish them.

In the end though, your determination will take energy out of you.  Writing is like a seesaw.  It's a give and take.  The more energy you put in it, the less you'll have to put into others things.  But of course there are the many rewards of writing it will give back to you.

Have any of you ever run out of patience with writing?  I know I certainly have.  How have you mastered this trial?  Brute determination or taking a rest, or both?

Robert T.