You're my favorite for so many reasons. And this whole post only reinforces that. Thank you for sharing all of these incredible insights into life (and writing and publishing and beyond).
Sage advice and compelling visual. I’ve equated my path as adjusting the sail—I can’t control the wind, but I can course correct to make the most of the prevailing wind. For me, it’s about keeping my “destination” in my sights (though it is really about enjoying the journey and not fixating on the destination).
This is really, really good advice, and so true -- both in life and in writing. I think it works for both because a lot of us want writing to be a major part of our lives! We tend to self-identify as "writer." Learning patience, and to gently steer ourselves back to what's important, can be hard work, but is so worth it.
Thanks! In this job (and I’m sure in many other jobs) it’s easy to think that if you can just achieve this goal or that goal, you’ll finally be able to be happy. But that’s simply not true. You can be happy with a failed book. You can be unhappy at the very peak of success. It’s about you, not your writing achievements. Always good to remember!
I had written a long comment but deleted it. I was reflecting on my own path and that wasn’t the point I wanted to make. Take 2. I agree 110% that you need a shit-ton of patience to write novels. If you’re impatient I suspect writing a novel would be pure torture. Unless you can read the same story 300 times, edit it day after day for months and think about it until it’s done and on the page, don’t do it. I believe some people write for success and not for pleasure and if you’re chasing that dream, I wish you luck. People who really love to write, enjoy the process, the creating of something new and something that is yours to share if you want to. So, patience is key and without it I don’t think anyone could write a book and honestly say they enjoyed it.
This is actually the type of author advice I feel does resonate me at this point on my journey post-debut, especially when it's so easy to get caught up in all the not-writing stuff. Needed to hear this today!
Glad to hear it resonated with you! Post-debut is a tough time for any author. The newness has worn off and some hard realities have maybe set in. But you can do it. ❤️
I'm 61. Published my first novel two years ago, and it is not breaking any bestseller lists. But it's okay. I'm working on Book 2 and just trying to show up every day, editor's hat firmly on head, and letting everything else roll off. Because you're right. 100%. Thank you.
This has helped me a lot. Thank you, Veronica. Instead of pushing a truck loaded with ideas that's run out of gas, using blood, sweat, tears and my valuable time, I'm pouring a thimbleful of fuel I distilled from the words I wrote into its tank, chugging along ten yards, then stopping to write some more. Off in the shimmering distance I can see the road I'm on disappear over a rise. I'm not sure how long it will take before I can coast downhill, but I will get there. I have no shortage of words. I just need to be *patient*.
This is kind of where I am currently at with bowling (didn't see that one coming did ya?). I used to get so freaking frustrated with the ball, the pins, myself. I hated that I couldn't get a perfect 300 score like the pros or even a few of the guys in league. It sucked! I sucked! Why did I bother taking up this sport in the first place when I'm a gamer at heart. Then 2 things dawned on me- 1. I am new to bowling. 2. I wanted a new experience.
I can't expect to start bowling at a professional level. Those pros didn't either. They put in years of showing up and doing the dirty work. The lackluster, infuriating, and repetitive slog. And even when they didn't want to be there, they showed up. Once I realized this (I'm 49. It shouldn't have taken several months to figure it out.) I learned that the whole experience is just as important as becoming a pro. After all, it's what gets you there. I've since learned patience with myself and my equipment. I've learned to enjoy the sight of multicolored balls rolling down the lane. I enjoy the variety of decibels created as each ball hits 1 or 10 pins (every ball sounds different btw). And I enjoy the pattern of pins flying back into or around the pit. I've also learned to enjoy familiarizing myself with where my feet need to be, my hand position, aiming at the right arrow to project my ball down lane. I realized that you aim small but there is a much longer path that your ball will take and the outcome can be exciting whether it's predictable or not. You just have to be patient and in the moment. It's made bowling more like therapy than a sport. Not like the kind of therapy that you dread, but one that leaves you feeling refreshed and your spirits high.
Now if only I could help my wife feel the same. But I play a lot more than she does. Am I a pro now? Oh god, absolutely not! My highest score is 211 (once), but that is no longer my goal. I choose the experience now over the dream that may or may not happen. I've done the same with my writing. It may never be a best seller. It might not even be good. But it's mine and my experience, and I will try my best to enjoy it every step of the way.
Love this! We really get such a brief time here. We have to work to appreciate it. It’s easy to get caught up in this productive drive no matter what you’re doing. And it’s not always bad! But if we’re not careful it will suck all the joy out of life.
I agree! I love that you brought up your hubby as an important part of your life. He's a great guy and I always enjoy getting to speak with him at events. You are both truly awesome individuals. So I can only imagine that you are even better as a duo as you compliment each other so well. I have never said that about very many people but you both have left lasting impressions on me that I am thankful for. I love his eye for photography, too, and wish I had one of his pieces to hang up on the wall. You both are very talented and have worked hard to hone those talents that the rest of us get to indulge in. Thank you.
I really enjoyed that. It’s not easy to read about patience, and it’s an even harder state to live in, but a new way to frame it might breathe life into the tediousness of it all. I always think of patience in those hundreds-of-years old trees, and I’m kinda glad you didn’t hit us with the tree analogy again; I’m all out of patience for that. But being present, well, that’s a mantra as deep and timeless as the trees, and I look forward to putting it into practice.
Hey Veronica, this was a really good blog as always always uplifting to reach your blogs. It gives me hope every day as somebody who wants to becoming a writer. I wanted to ask some of this that you wrote. It felt a lot like reading about the character of four from divergent, did any of this advice that you put in this blog today? Contribute towards this character? Thanks. 😁😁❤️
I really, really loved this. After years and years and years of just dreaming about writing fiction, I'm finally actually doing it and I've been so happily shocked by how focused -- how present -- I must be in order to do it. It has been a welcome change from all the surface-level interactions I have in my daily life. When I write, it feels like swimming underwater. Thank you for putting so many of these thoughts and experiences into words!
Can I just say, this is one of the most timely newsletters I've ever received. I've been obsessively refreshing my emails, what for news, while I COULD be diving into my writing and letting what I can't control just be. I appreciate that your advice isn't to just not refresh or check for updates constantly! Thank you for this ❤️
Glad to hear it! And it is basically impossible to just “stop checking,” but learning to crowd out the checking impulse with something that’s important to you…slightly easier. Best of luck!
I think I needed this more than I realized 🖤 Side note, I had a breakfast with you a long time ago (it was a New Leaf breakfast!) and I thought you were the coolest person I'd ever met and I still believe that 😄
This is EXACTLY what I needed to read today. So often, even with a solid outline and characters I want to get to know, I sit with the thought of: what if they aren’t good enough? What if this isn’t good enough? But those thoughts aren’t for now (or ever?), now is for sitting in the scene with them and just seeing where it goes.
I have read carefully your need for patience, along with the setbacks and the weight of stress you're dealing with. Perhaps it’s the work of the planets. That suggestion of yours about patience is like an oracular message. In your books, I find brilliant codes which, when deciphered, reveal the mechanics of the world and the universe. My dreams, too, have transformed. I design and build modern homes, create utopian visions; yet among my new dreams, the idea has emerged of donating books to libraries in isolated communities in the United States or Italy, giving books to those who cannot afford them, and creating scholarships for talented people who have not had the same opportunities. It wouldn’t be just random or vague support, but truly following someone, watching their steps, supporting them, to save them. It’s an Arthurian dream, a small heroic dream: when you save someone, even if it’s only with a few coins, you feel like a hero. Every story has its “hero’s journey.” In books, we can shape the world as we like, but in reality, it just takes patience. This is my new account; the other was blocked for “phantom” spamming... (Patience) :)
First of all, I just finished Divergent for the first time and not only did it get me out of a reading rut but wow…what a book. What a story. What characters. What a style of writing.
Anyway, what I actually want to ask is this: I discovered you’re a Christian! I love this. And I love the way you have implemented those values into the Divergent world and story. I’m a self published author of two novels, and a Christian, and if you’re willing I’d love some advice in how you write books and create worlds and stories as a Christian. Did you ever struggle with feeling like you had to explicitly put the Bible or Jesus into your writing? Did you ever feel a conviction for not being explicit? How do you weave God and His word and His truth into your writing?
I’d be so grateful with any response. Thanks so much Veronica!
-Francesca
P.S. started Insurgent immediately after finishing Divergent and I’m so excited.
You're my favorite for so many reasons. And this whole post only reinforces that. Thank you for sharing all of these incredible insights into life (and writing and publishing and beyond).
🥰 thanks sooz! I really appreciate it. ❤️
Sage advice and compelling visual. I’ve equated my path as adjusting the sail—I can’t control the wind, but I can course correct to make the most of the prevailing wind. For me, it’s about keeping my “destination” in my sights (though it is really about enjoying the journey and not fixating on the destination).
That’s a lovely way of thinking about it, thank you!
This is really, really good advice, and so true -- both in life and in writing. I think it works for both because a lot of us want writing to be a major part of our lives! We tend to self-identify as "writer." Learning patience, and to gently steer ourselves back to what's important, can be hard work, but is so worth it.
Thanks for sharing this. <3
Thanks! In this job (and I’m sure in many other jobs) it’s easy to think that if you can just achieve this goal or that goal, you’ll finally be able to be happy. But that’s simply not true. You can be happy with a failed book. You can be unhappy at the very peak of success. It’s about you, not your writing achievements. Always good to remember!
I had written a long comment but deleted it. I was reflecting on my own path and that wasn’t the point I wanted to make. Take 2. I agree 110% that you need a shit-ton of patience to write novels. If you’re impatient I suspect writing a novel would be pure torture. Unless you can read the same story 300 times, edit it day after day for months and think about it until it’s done and on the page, don’t do it. I believe some people write for success and not for pleasure and if you’re chasing that dream, I wish you luck. People who really love to write, enjoy the process, the creating of something new and something that is yours to share if you want to. So, patience is key and without it I don’t think anyone could write a book and honestly say they enjoyed it.
This is actually the type of author advice I feel does resonate me at this point on my journey post-debut, especially when it's so easy to get caught up in all the not-writing stuff. Needed to hear this today!
Glad to hear it resonated with you! Post-debut is a tough time for any author. The newness has worn off and some hard realities have maybe set in. But you can do it. ❤️
I'm 61. Published my first novel two years ago, and it is not breaking any bestseller lists. But it's okay. I'm working on Book 2 and just trying to show up every day, editor's hat firmly on head, and letting everything else roll off. Because you're right. 100%. Thank you.
I'm 61 too! Writing music , painting and wanting to write an autobiographical fiction. Mostly composing music.
I'm delighted for you, friend! And a bit jealous: Composing music is a talent I don't have. That's awesome!
It was the music writing software that launched me. I had been playing in bands studying scores, listening to music, for decades.
This has helped me a lot. Thank you, Veronica. Instead of pushing a truck loaded with ideas that's run out of gas, using blood, sweat, tears and my valuable time, I'm pouring a thimbleful of fuel I distilled from the words I wrote into its tank, chugging along ten yards, then stopping to write some more. Off in the shimmering distance I can see the road I'm on disappear over a rise. I'm not sure how long it will take before I can coast downhill, but I will get there. I have no shortage of words. I just need to be *patient*.
This is kind of where I am currently at with bowling (didn't see that one coming did ya?). I used to get so freaking frustrated with the ball, the pins, myself. I hated that I couldn't get a perfect 300 score like the pros or even a few of the guys in league. It sucked! I sucked! Why did I bother taking up this sport in the first place when I'm a gamer at heart. Then 2 things dawned on me- 1. I am new to bowling. 2. I wanted a new experience.
I can't expect to start bowling at a professional level. Those pros didn't either. They put in years of showing up and doing the dirty work. The lackluster, infuriating, and repetitive slog. And even when they didn't want to be there, they showed up. Once I realized this (I'm 49. It shouldn't have taken several months to figure it out.) I learned that the whole experience is just as important as becoming a pro. After all, it's what gets you there. I've since learned patience with myself and my equipment. I've learned to enjoy the sight of multicolored balls rolling down the lane. I enjoy the variety of decibels created as each ball hits 1 or 10 pins (every ball sounds different btw). And I enjoy the pattern of pins flying back into or around the pit. I've also learned to enjoy familiarizing myself with where my feet need to be, my hand position, aiming at the right arrow to project my ball down lane. I realized that you aim small but there is a much longer path that your ball will take and the outcome can be exciting whether it's predictable or not. You just have to be patient and in the moment. It's made bowling more like therapy than a sport. Not like the kind of therapy that you dread, but one that leaves you feeling refreshed and your spirits high.
Now if only I could help my wife feel the same. But I play a lot more than she does. Am I a pro now? Oh god, absolutely not! My highest score is 211 (once), but that is no longer my goal. I choose the experience now over the dream that may or may not happen. I've done the same with my writing. It may never be a best seller. It might not even be good. But it's mine and my experience, and I will try my best to enjoy it every step of the way.
Love this! We really get such a brief time here. We have to work to appreciate it. It’s easy to get caught up in this productive drive no matter what you’re doing. And it’s not always bad! But if we’re not careful it will suck all the joy out of life.
I agree! I love that you brought up your hubby as an important part of your life. He's a great guy and I always enjoy getting to speak with him at events. You are both truly awesome individuals. So I can only imagine that you are even better as a duo as you compliment each other so well. I have never said that about very many people but you both have left lasting impressions on me that I am thankful for. I love his eye for photography, too, and wish I had one of his pieces to hang up on the wall. You both are very talented and have worked hard to hone those talents that the rest of us get to indulge in. Thank you.
I really enjoyed that. It’s not easy to read about patience, and it’s an even harder state to live in, but a new way to frame it might breathe life into the tediousness of it all. I always think of patience in those hundreds-of-years old trees, and I’m kinda glad you didn’t hit us with the tree analogy again; I’m all out of patience for that. But being present, well, that’s a mantra as deep and timeless as the trees, and I look forward to putting it into practice.
No trees here! I lack the patience and the stability of a tree for sure. 🥲
Hey Veronica, this was a really good blog as always always uplifting to reach your blogs. It gives me hope every day as somebody who wants to becoming a writer. I wanted to ask some of this that you wrote. It felt a lot like reading about the character of four from divergent, did any of this advice that you put in this blog today? Contribute towards this character? Thanks. 😁😁❤️
I really, really loved this. After years and years and years of just dreaming about writing fiction, I'm finally actually doing it and I've been so happily shocked by how focused -- how present -- I must be in order to do it. It has been a welcome change from all the surface-level interactions I have in my daily life. When I write, it feels like swimming underwater. Thank you for putting so many of these thoughts and experiences into words!
Swimming underwater but with a snorkel?
Can I just say, this is one of the most timely newsletters I've ever received. I've been obsessively refreshing my emails, what for news, while I COULD be diving into my writing and letting what I can't control just be. I appreciate that your advice isn't to just not refresh or check for updates constantly! Thank you for this ❤️
Glad to hear it! And it is basically impossible to just “stop checking,” but learning to crowd out the checking impulse with something that’s important to you…slightly easier. Best of luck!
I think I needed this more than I realized 🖤 Side note, I had a breakfast with you a long time ago (it was a New Leaf breakfast!) and I thought you were the coolest person I'd ever met and I still believe that 😄
This is EXACTLY what I needed to read today. So often, even with a solid outline and characters I want to get to know, I sit with the thought of: what if they aren’t good enough? What if this isn’t good enough? But those thoughts aren’t for now (or ever?), now is for sitting in the scene with them and just seeing where it goes.
I have read carefully your need for patience, along with the setbacks and the weight of stress you're dealing with. Perhaps it’s the work of the planets. That suggestion of yours about patience is like an oracular message. In your books, I find brilliant codes which, when deciphered, reveal the mechanics of the world and the universe. My dreams, too, have transformed. I design and build modern homes, create utopian visions; yet among my new dreams, the idea has emerged of donating books to libraries in isolated communities in the United States or Italy, giving books to those who cannot afford them, and creating scholarships for talented people who have not had the same opportunities. It wouldn’t be just random or vague support, but truly following someone, watching their steps, supporting them, to save them. It’s an Arthurian dream, a small heroic dream: when you save someone, even if it’s only with a few coins, you feel like a hero. Every story has its “hero’s journey.” In books, we can shape the world as we like, but in reality, it just takes patience. This is my new account; the other was blocked for “phantom” spamming... (Patience) :)
Hey Veronica!
First of all, I just finished Divergent for the first time and not only did it get me out of a reading rut but wow…what a book. What a story. What characters. What a style of writing.
Anyway, what I actually want to ask is this: I discovered you’re a Christian! I love this. And I love the way you have implemented those values into the Divergent world and story. I’m a self published author of two novels, and a Christian, and if you’re willing I’d love some advice in how you write books and create worlds and stories as a Christian. Did you ever struggle with feeling like you had to explicitly put the Bible or Jesus into your writing? Did you ever feel a conviction for not being explicit? How do you weave God and His word and His truth into your writing?
I’d be so grateful with any response. Thanks so much Veronica!
-Francesca
P.S. started Insurgent immediately after finishing Divergent and I’m so excited.