Virtues of A Writer Part V

This is the fifth and final post on Virtues.

The Morality of Deed:

Trust--Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.

  

"Without trust, words become the hollow sound of a wooden gong. With trust, words become life itself."--John Harold.

We must trust other writers with our work and ideas, trust people who handle our submissions, trust our agents to do what's best for us and our work, trust editors to be honest and fair, but most of all, we must trust our own abilities.

Morality of Mind:

Perseverance--Continued steady belief and persistence, withstanding discouragement or difficulty.

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"The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit."--Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Oh, Mr. Twain, how right you are.

Virtues of A Writer Part IV

The Morality of Deed:

Righteousness--Morally upright, without guilt.

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"The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness...such a man may be reckoned a complete man."--Confuscius (551 BC-470 BC)

I could never consciously plagiarize or steal another's work in any way. There is so much to learn about the fast-changing publishing trends, but we also need to make ourselves and other writers aware of permissions and licensing. I would never knowingly do anything illegal for the sake of publishing and I don't know any other writers who would.

The Morality of Mind:

Will--Diligent purposefulness. The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses a course of action.

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"It is not the the will to win that matters...everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."--Paul 'Bear' Bryant.

"The will to do, the soul to dare."--Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

As writers, we made a choice to write. For some of us, the choice was made at a young age. For others, at a much later time in life. Writers must have the will to write. The will to sit down every single morning, afternoon, night, or weekend and create a manuscript. 

Virtues of A Writer Part III

Today is December 1st and NaNoWriMo is officially over!
First of all, congratulations to all the participants. Even if you didn't reach the 50k word goal, I commend you for your commitment and determination. You are well on your way to a completed novel, and I can't wait to hear all about it.

Now, onto this week's post...

Morality of Deed:

(Source)

Respect--To show consideration or appreciation. To feel or show deferential regard for.

"Respect yourself and others will respect you." --Confuscius (551BC-479BC)

Writers respect writers. Even though we may not like a particular work or genre, we know how much goes into creating a poem, picture book, article, short story, or novel. We respect their dedication and hard work.
We try hard to respect other writers' feelings when critiquing their work, and always respect the creative abilities of others.
When all is said and done, we all hope to gain the respect of our peers.

Morality of Mind:

(Shout-out to Doug Savage and his Savage Chickens)

Patience--The capacity for calmly enduring trying situations.

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them-every day begin the task anew."--St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Can you tell that St. Francis was a writer? His quote should be the 'Writer's Creed.'
I want results NOW and patience was the first thing I learned as a writer. I still struggle with it.
Writers must have patience in themselves to learn the craft and to create a great manuscript. We must be patient and revise it until it is complete. We must be patient with others during the submission process, and if rejected, we must dig deeper for the patience to start again.

Virtues of A Writer Part II

The next virtue in the Chinese Morality of Deed is:

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Loyalty--The act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action.

"No more important duty can be urged upon those who are entering the great theater of life than simple loyalty to their best convictions."Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Writers are both intellectually and emotionally bound to their work. A novel's first draft could take from 30 days and up, to complete. Then, comes the rewriting, revising, and editing. After that is market researching, submitting, and sometimes, more rewriting, before the novel ever goes to print. there is also networking, promoting, and all the while, we must keep writing more.

That's a whole bunch of 'ings' and that takes a whole bunch of loyalty to that course of action--writing.

Which leads us to the next Morality of Mind:

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Endurance--The act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress.

"Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck -- but, most of all, endurance."James Baldwin (1924 - 1987)

If there is one thing all writers must have, it's endurance. Writers need to make money, run households, raise children, care for pets, do laundry, pamper significant others, prepare food, pay bills, clean the house, heck! Writers have lives! But still, we want and need to write, rewrite, revise, edit, research, submit, network, promote, and continue writing.

Without endurance, writers would never become authors.

Virtues of A Writer Part I

A virtue is a positive trait or quality deemed to be morally excellent. Virtues are valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. Almost every culture has their own set of virtues. For example, the Romans had a list of nineteen and the Chinese have ten, divided into two categories, Deed, and Mind.
For the next few weeks, I'd like to talk about the Chinese Martial Morality. I will take one virtue from each category and talk about how it pertains to the writing community that I know and love.

The Morality of Deed

(Source)

Humility--The quality or condition of being humble.

Most writers I am acquainted with are quite humble. I'm sure, there are some braggarts in the writing community who like to act superior as soon as their name and work are published, but the writers I know are grateful and gracious upon publication. Sure, we all like to celebrate our accomplishments, and want to shout them from the rooftops, but for most of us, the entire process is usually humbling. I also find that most writers are so humble, they have a tough time with marketing and writing bios.

The Morality of Mind

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Courage--The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

Writing is personal. Whether you write fiction, non-fiction, or memoir, writers put a little piece of themselves on paper. Sometimes it's our innermost thoughts, worlds we create, or strange subjects that intrigue us. Whether trusting a critique group to read our work, submitting to a publisher, and especially re-submitting after rejection, writer's are a very brave group.