Impatience and Timing

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I recently finished writing my first novel.  So, I've been working on book number two, and I've got to say, it's an elusive little creature.  Just when I think I've got the right direction and feel for it, I look at it again and think maybe not.  I've even considered abandoning this particular idea in favor of one of my others.  Which brings me to my title.

One of my other ideas is actually my very favorite idea.  I like it better than the novel I just wrote and better than the one I am attempting to write now.  Whenever I grow disappointed in my current efforts, I toy with writing this favorite idea.  But, and here's the important part, I'm not ready to write it yet.  I don't want to write it and not do it justice.  I have heard of movie makers having this same sense about a movie that then became their magnum opus.  

And so, I retreat to my other ideas, working to hone my craft, to practice and practice and practice, knowing that one day all of this will pay off.  One day I will be able to write that book, and hopefully you will see why I had to wait and why the waiting was worth it.

We live in a society that does not much regard delayed gratification.  We want it all and we want it all right now!  This is short-sighted and will not serve us well.  That is what I remind myself when I grow impatient, when I threaten to butcher what should be and will be, eventually, a wonderful story.  It was the story I was born to write, but just not yet . . .