What has my writing taught me?

My journey as a writer has been quite long, starting with short stories  and features for several years before I took a full fledged plunge into the world of  books. Over the years I have learnt several things in this journey.  I want to share these insights with my writing friends.  I am sure few things will make you smile,  and some  things will make you nod your heads.

               

1. Writing has taught me patience. Patience  is not one of my better known virtues. The time it takes to write a book: from the day the idea pops into my overactive mind, until the day I see the book/ story in its published form is long. At every moment, impatient little me needs loads of patience to be able to do justice to the work I have undertaken. 

2. Writing has taught me to respect people with split personalities as  my personality undergoes a drastic change at different stages of my writing. When I am writing the first draft, I am quite stressed and irritable with the smallest disturbances. When I rewrite, I am pretty upset with myself, and when I edit,  I am  relaxed and cheerful. 

3. Writing has made me value other writer’s efforts. I never dismiss a book as crap or run it down, as I am aware of the effort someone else must have invested in that endeavour. The book may have bored me to tears, maybe disappointed me a little, or a lot, but it still required a tremendous effort from someone else to bring it to that stage. 

4. Writing has made me appreciate the little free time I get. For us  writers, our work doesn’t end with just writing a publishable book, it starts with that. Once we have jumped onto the publishing bandwagon, we have  to actively market our books. Its then  we realize that the day could have done with few more hours, or, that we could have done with few less activities. 

5. Writing has made me realize that if I were to wait for a visit from my muse, I would probably write just a book or two in my lifetime. It has made me realize that with or without the active participation of my muse I have to  churn out those words that will fill my manuscript. If my muse sees me working hard, perhaps talking pity on me it will drop in for an extended visit. 

6. Writing has been responsible for me developing a  really thick skin. An editor/agent/reader/publisher may not have reacted favourably  where my work was concerned, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I am a bad writer, or, that I have to drown myself in self-pity. For every single person out there who doesn’t  like my work, there is another person who will love it. Well, I personally have not liked all the books I have read, but that  does  not mean that the writer is  bad, or, has failed. It just means that a particular story has not appealed to me  emotionally. 

7. Writing has taught me  more about spirituality than the holiest of books. We writers get familiar with every aspect of spirituality: from surrender to working without an eye out for the desired result, to  calm acceptance of our book’s fate. Do we know the fate of our manuscripts when we send it on its publishing journey? No. Do we know whether a character we have worked on for years will  be loved or dismissed by readers? I am sure not. Do we  know the reactions of the readers to our books? Definetely not. Do we know whether we will  ever be able to make a decent living from our writing professions? Certainly not. Each cheque is a pleasant surprise. 

What has your writing journey taught you? Please share with us, we all would love to know.