Patience is Sweet

 

“Are they ready yet?” my daughters would ask me.

These are the words I’ve been hearing since my pomegranate tree first started producing a substantial amount of fruit. They would ask that question over and over again. I had to say “No” each time until finally I would give in (after almost losing my mind) and let them pick one. Once opened, we discovered seeds that had yet to gain their proper color. Clear fruit. The brave child tastes only one to discover it is not yet sweet. Sour and bitter. But we don’t give up. A week later we do this dance again never finding a ripe one.

To be honest, I had no idea when they would ripen. No one in my house has
a green thumb. Every plant we purchased or was given as a gift…died. (Except for succulents. They thrived.)  So it was all just a guess when they would be ready to be eaten.

This scenario reminded me of a time when I struggled to bring a chapter I was working on to completion. I had issues with dialogue.

Now, if you know me and my writing well, you would understand…I do not have a problem with dialogue. I write with at least 3 main characters and I enjoy bringing each one to life and making sure they have different distinguishing voices. I struggle with many things when it comes to writing but dialogue was never one of them.

However, on this day, my characters were not speaking to me…or to each other. I was frustrated because I needed to get this chapter done. I had an out of state trip coming up. I also needed to get ahead so that I could give my critique group some chapters to read. I wanted to finish this book before the Spring Conference! All of that on top of having a household to run, kids to take care of. To add insult to injury, my car needed repair.

Ugh! Why couldn’t I get this right?  I was on a time crunch!

I wrote the chapter twice. Then a third time…for good measure.

It still didn’t sound like my main characters.

I thought all was lost.

Distraught, frustrated, drained and ready to give up, I posted my frustration on social media looking for help. People responded. I was given advice from several writers that I should step away from my work and give it some time. Be patient!

That was not what I wanted to hear at the moment. Like I said…I was on a deadline.  But this was a suggestion I had given other writer friends in the past.

Maybe I should take my own advice.

As a writer, I learned that when you try to force things in your writing you may end up with writers block. You could drain yourself mentally, your production could slow down, and you may get discouraged and lose faith.  This could make you become overwhelmed and eventually, like me, want to just give up.

With the pomegranate tree, we were impatient because we really wanted that fruit. We love pomegranates and couldn’t wait. Eventually nature gave us no options and we finally realized rushing the process wasn’t doing us any good.

Aristotle said “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

We have to be patient writers. We cannot force our craft. I know we want to be productive especially when experts tell us we need to write every day. Get your butt in the seat and write, they declare.

However, our characters will not be moved. They speak when they have something to say. I know we want to be productive and write as much as possible but taking a step back from the current project and focus on something else may be a better decision than trying to make things happen. We need a mental break sometimes and that is okay.

I took a couple of days break, cleaned, worked on my blog and just gave myself and my characters the time we needed. I finished the chapter feeling confident that the integrity of my characters was withheld and their voices weren’t lost.

Oh, and just so you know…it takes a long time for pomegranates to ripen. Still waiting…