Patience in January

Jeannine Gailey — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Yes, they say patience is a virtue, but sadly, I’ve never had much of it. So much of the writing game is waiting: waiting to hear back from a publisher about a book you’ve sent out, waiting to hear back on submissions or queries – sometimes for a year or more, waiting to hear the results of a contest or grant decision. It seems so little is in our hands. It’s one of the things I like least about the writing life, quite frankly. I’m a “get-it-done” kind of girl, and have always felt that little push from the back of my mind that “life is short – do what you can when you can.” (Or, for a more amusing version of my real feelings, see this e-card for my personal motto, but warning: it has a curse word in it. I’m sure it will ring true to you other A-types out there…)

January in Seattle, even without a week trapped in a snowpocalypse, is a gloomy, dreary stretch of grey days. Everyone catches the flu in one or more versions. It’s a month when I read more than I write (right now, Poets in Their Youth, a memoir from John Berryman’s wife Eileen Simpson about his life and Haruki Murakami’s sprawling 1Q84,) when I find myself watching more dumb comedies in an effort to cheer myself up, when, yes, I miss California’s mild, short, sunshine-filled January days.

So I’m trying to focus on the positive things I can accomplish during this grump-filled, chilly month. Like updating to the Facebook (terrible! okay, I said it) Timeline format. (See Kelli’s excellent tips on that process, here.) Reading “how to buy a house” guide books as there is nothing on the market right now anyway to even go look at; dreaming up decorating plans for said unknown future house. Working on the poetry manuscripts that aren’t yet published; reading and editing other people’s manuscripts. Coming up with ideas for new goals for the year, experimenting with new genres (right now, it’s creative non-fiction and flash fiction. See Anne Petty, Kitsune Books editor’s tips for Flash Fiction here.)
My real drive here is to focus on the things I can get accomplished, and try not to think about all the things I’m waiting to hear back on…hopefully things that will propel me towards the life I love, which I can see vaguely in the distance, out past January…

What are your January doldrums cures? What do you do when the waiting game has you on pins and needles?

why is patience a virtue – Webbish6

Patience in January