Slow and Steady

Anyone who has spent any time writing knows that success takes time. Even failure takes time.

Writing a story - novel, novella or short story - requires an investment of time with no guarantee that there will be a payoff.

I think this truth would be easier to accept if there were not so many times that society applauded sudden success. The suddenness may be real or imagined, but often victories are celebrated as if the work put into them was brief.

There are examples of this from the sports, music and even political worlds, but the writing community is not immune to this thinking. How many young writers dream of being a Stephen King or J.K. Rowling - published and famous in their 30s?

If you can become that successful that early, by all means, do so. Hard work can seem easier if you believe there will be a quick payoff. But for most of us, we need patience along with the effort. Success, or even a singular publication, does not always come quickly. But many who get that first story out later in life become highly-praised writers.

Toni Morrison was 40 when her first novel was published. J.R.R. Tolkien is the most famous of all fantasy writers, but he was 45 when The Hobbit was released. For anyone who is at a later stage of life, remember that Laura Ingals Wilder of Little House on the Prairie fame did not publish a book until she was 65.

But in addition to being slow and steady in larger goals of writing entire novels and topping best-sellers' lists, it is wise to be patient in small goals. Sometimes we feel more justified in being impatient over smaller accomplishments. After all, if something is smaller, we should be able to rush through it, right?

Well, not always. Maybe you have a smaller chapter you intend to write next. But a smaller word count can mean that there is more crafting that needs to be done with each word. Mark Twain is supposed to have said "Long and bad is easier than short and good". If you become frustrated that a short portion of writing is taking too long, use the opportunity to discipline your writing style, so you can use the time to make your words express more than before.

I am encountering this with the promotion and sales of The Jewelry of Grace. The book is selling, but slowly. I know I need to be patient during a pandemic - patient to meet up with some of the people who want to buy the book from me personally, patient to speak on the radio with studios that are not having in-person guests right now, patient for author signing events to be safe again. So some of my smaller promotional goals are taking longer with this book than with The Pride of Central.

But this is not necessarily a problem with sales. This may be a problem more with my patience. So I will try to use this opportunity to discipline myself, to be patient in reaching readers with my story.

Next week: Sharing the Success