Patience means the capacity to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming angry or upset (Roget's New Millennium Thesaurus).
Patience is required at many different levels on the Writer's Journey both with your self and with others.
Why is patience such an important quality for writers? First of all, writing a book for publication is a long term business.
Despite the fact that there are always exceptions to the rule, there are very few books that are picked up by an agent or publisher straight away.
The norm is for the process to take time.
The stage where patience is most required, and one of the most important for all writers seeking commercial publication, is finding the right people to work with - agent and/or publisher.
The reason that it takes so long for publishing professionals to respond to your approach is that they genuinely do have an extremely long list of other tasks on their 'To Do' list.
And this is before they even get to assessing new projects from new authors! Add this to fact that they are almost always in meetings and inundated with material to read, and you'll begin to get the picture.
Ironically, once a decision is finally made, from that point onwards everything suddenly switches to tight deadlines where everything needs to be completed 'yesterday'! With self-publishing, the long term nature of successful publishing takes into account the whole life cycle of the book.
In this situation you need patience to nurture your book to success long beyond the actual launch.
For example, it requires patience to cultivate mutually rewarding working relationships with people who will help to sell, market and promote your book.
It also takes patience to build up a strong relationship with your readers that is likely to be rewarded by them buying your next book too.
Life has a way of taking the time required for projects to come to fruition - whatever that may be - rather than an arbitrary time frame you may have decided you want to work to.
Usually, there is a bigger picture at work - if only you could see it then and there! Jocelyn's story I first met Jocelyn when she came to one of my Writer's Journey workshops a few years ago.
At the end of the event, she came up to me to say how much she had enjoyed the balance of inspiration and practical information we covered.
She explained that she had felt deeply inspired to write a book for several years but had not done anything about it as she didn't know where to start.
Now, she felt fired into action and was determined to find the right way forwards for her book.
Over the next couple of years, Jocelyn came to other events that I presented and I coached her through her unfolding journey.
The longest stage of all was when she was finally ready to approach publishers with her proposal.
As the months went by, I was impressed by how calmly she viewed the whole situation.
Her belief in her project was so strong that she was able to maintain a patient and determined attitude.
One day, over 18 months after I had last heard from her, I received an email which brought tears to my eyes.
Finally, Jocelyn's patience had been rewarded and she was writing excitedly to tell me that a publisher had finally offered her a contract.
Jocelyn went on to complete her journey with that particular book and is now enjoying the process of writing her second.
So how can you develop the patience you will need for your Writer's Journey? Here are 3 tips to help you: 1.
Learn to meditate - one of the most effective methods I know for cultivating patience is meditation.
You don't have to believe in anything in particular and it has nothing to do with faith or religion.
It is proven beyond doubt that simply setting aside 20 minutes a day to still the mind and begin to know the silence of your inner world has profoundly positive benefits in your everyday life.
You will feel more patient, balanced and are likely to experience a more optimistic outlook generally.
Bringing these qualities to writing a book for publication will most definitely enable you to enjoy the journey all the more.
And even if you don't feel like doing a formal meditation practice, just taking some quiet time at the start of each day will also bring you great benefit.
2.
Cultivate the ability to be 'proactively patient' - this involves taking appropriate action to move you towards your goal, and then letting go of your attachment to the end results.
It is all about maintaining your vision of what you are working towards whilst remaining present in the moment, and accepting the current circumstances for whatever they happen to be.
If you are experiencing delays or rejections, ask yourself, "What's the bigger picture?" Imagine yourself at some unspecified time in the future looking back on where you are now and see if you can read the signs of your present situation.
Often it is much easier to understand why a delay happened in retrospect.
3.
Find your own inspiring story - there are lots of stories around these days of writers who have had their patience tested to the limit, and then finally found a way forwards.
Look in newspapers or magazines, ask at your local library or writers group, and find a story which you find inspiring.
It doesn't have to be a celebrity story.
In fact it's probably better if it isn't.
It will help to hear about someone that you know - directly or indirectly - whose patience has been rewarded.
It could be the guy who works in the local bookshop who has just signed up with an agent after wanting to write since leaving college.
Or a friend of a friend who's been writing an unusual blog for a couple of years and has been offered a contract.
Read the story regularly to help you maintain patience if you are feeling stretched and maintain a focused yet relaxed approach to the whole process.
This is one of the most important secrets for staying the course on the writer's path.
Enjoy!