Patience...or the Lack Thereof

How many of you are patient people by nature? I think that most of us have to learn patience, and we usually do that when we become adults, especially parents. But as writers? How much patience do we have to have, or acquire, when we write? We have to be patient when our muse takes off on vacation and leaves us behind. Waiting for her to return is such a chore ! Then we have to be patient during our rewriting and editing process. Think about it...how many times has that muse said, "Take this out, it holds up the action," and you say, "But it's so beatifully written!" We fall in love with our own words, and it takes a great deal of patience to delete them forever.

Then, of course, there's the waiting time. We've sent out our queries, sometimes for as many as 5 or 10 different stories and/or articles. Now we wait. And wait. And wait. Days pass and turn into weeks, which pass and turn into months. We're still waiting. Patiently. Yeah, right! If we're so patiently waiting, then how come we shove everyone out of our way in order to get to the mailbox first, regardless of who we might knock down in the process? If we're so patiently waiting, how come we scream and yell and tear up any envelopes that aren't from a publisher? If we're so patiently waiting, how come it's so difficult to continue to write while we waiting for what we've already written to be accepted...or...rejected?

Patience! Why is it so hard to come by? When I was teaching at the university, my students would sometimes call me at home ( with permission), and my husband would tell me that I had "the patience of Job" with them. But when I started to write, it seems like that word totally escaped my vocabulary!

How about you? How much patience do you have?