Books I've Been Reading and Plan to Read
A Word About Patience
PATIENCE
By
Geoffrey Zimmerman
Writers need to be the most obsessed and patient people in the world. Obsessed because there is no way in hell anything is going to get done, (written) unless I do it. I can’t say I’m busy, so do me a favor. And write that short story- or edit that book trailer – or rework that query letter.
Patience- yes. We, (writers) have, above all else in the universe to be patient – with ourselves, with our family, with our friends and contacts, and with the universe.
It’s like throwing a stone into the ocean, and KNOWING that someday the ripple will return. (this is also faith)/
I never realized how large a role patience must play in this chosen career until I started to go public with my newly pressed compilation of short stories.
Regarding one novel- Love Never Dies, I began to write the story in 1989 – 22 years ago!.
I was living in San Francisco then, and since that year I have been married (and divorced) twice, lived in Los Angeles, Connecticut, Germany, Virginia, Colorado and Arizona.
It is not like in 1989 I decided it would take me 21 years before I could call myself a writer – life intervened – but through it all, I kept my eye on the prize.
Now, each day I try to move each project that I am working on forward.
I have a self-published compilation of short stories – on six websites- for sale, and in one restaurant and 2 libraries in my county here in Virginia. I am writing short stories and poetry for the second volume of this endeavor. I am reworking ( and submitting) my 475 page 128,000 word novel I called “finished” 2 years ago. I am reworking and preparing to submit query letters to agents. I am gathering music and images for the book trailer I am producing for the short story book. I am periodically writing erotic short stories, stories that I will create into another and differently marketed compilation of short stories. I am writing daily on two screenplays that I hope to have done and ready to submit to agents, producers and production companies by this spring. I am keeping in contact with friends and contacts, searching for opportunities to make my career move forward. I am keeping in touch with the wonderful family I live with, and doing dishes, taking out trash, mowing the lawn, building a laundry station in the garage and tending to my little medium pet. I am attempting meditation, soul travel (astral projection) and relaxation exercises. I am reading novels and self-help books that I hope will move me forward spiritually and career-wise. I am trying to keep myself healthy by getting enough sleep and eating well during the day. I am working a full-time construction job that pays me 1/3 what I am worth, and pushes me 3 times as hard as I want – after getting up at 5:30 in the morning!
So- now we come back around to patience – just one more day could get me that recognition- just one more week could get me that raise- just one more month and that query letter might be ready to submit again( or accepted this time) – just six more months and that screenplay and short story book will be ready for public view. And tonight at 1:30 am, with just 4 hours sleep before I get up and go to work, I write this blog, to share with those who may care about what it is like to be a committed writer.
Cross your fingers – I may soon be a horse you will want to bet on.
When? Who knows? Be patient.