Patience

Tags

god, labor, patience, time, waiting, work, Writing

Today is one of those November breaths that seems to recede into the chest of autumn and then wait. The air warms for a little while and then as that air is breathed, the cold returns. Days like this make me thoughtful and I can’t help but sit down in my chair and clear my head. I breath as the air outside does, slowly, and let my brain wander. I listen.

Sometimes I hear things, sometimes I don’t. But that’s not what is important. Just taking time out to listen and pray is what the soul needs. I need to be able to sort through my thoughts and order my life differently.

Right now, things are crazy, but in a truly meaningful and wonderful way. I am stressed, sometimes frustrated, but I am hopeful in ways that I cannot fully explain. I have a vision and I am working toward that vision.

The thing that I have been realizing more and more, is that I simply need to be patient. I just have to wait and work, and keep my goal in sight. It’s terrifying at first, but one day at a time, one stroke of the chisel at that dream, and suddenly, things aren’t quite as scary.

Word Quantity or Word Quality?

Tags

culture, dead dreamer, funny phrases, ink, literature, meaningful words, paper, patience, pen, pencil, quality, time, time and patience, word counts, words, Writing

It’s something that I’ve been noticing among a lot of writers. Not so much in books as on blogging websites and forums when they discuss their “writing”. (Which we never see). Many of them seem more concerned about getting a ton of words on the page than they do about making the words count toward a wonderfully told story.

“Just get the first draft down!” They seem to say. Their pen quivers in their hands as they scribble down the next sentence which contains the same words and funny phrases that they used a couple pages ago. “It’ll be a kick!” They aspire, but rarely do they seem to accomplish.

Such is the path of a dead dreamer.

So many writers dream. I respect their dreams, their wishes, but it’s a lack of drive and passion that keeps them from reaching their goals. Sacrifice is an element that I’ve been discovering and some of that sacrifice means time and patience. Taking lots of time to write down the perfect phrase, and having the patience to find the perfect word. The right sentence can mean the difference between making a reader cry out in anguish for a character, or them setting the book down because they found it too poorly drawn.

I do not mean to say that I am a perfect writer, but I have been trying to eradicate those untimely words and phrases from my writing. To keep myself from putting something on the paper that will be “good enough” until I revise it months later. It’s hard, it requires thought and more time that I am really comfortable with, but I have been starting to be happier with my writing because of it. I do not restrict myself to word counts. If I get 2000 words down in a day, and that was all I was trying to do, then fine, that goal was accomplished. But if I get 1000 passionate and meaningful words down, then that is far, far better than any word count will ever be.

Our culture revolves around pushing things out so quickly that we have lost the reality of quality. Do not become the next cliche, make every word count so that when you have a finished product, it won’t be “good enough” but will instead be something to remember. Quantity is not quality, and quantity will not by cherished like like quality will. Glass is pretty, but it is the diamond that stands the test of time.