Be patient: we're waiting for wonderful.

This is the quote I have on my nightstand. It's one of the last things I see every day, and there's good reason for that.

Some times this writing gig feels like I'm pushing a pebble forward with my nose every day. And when I come back for the next day's work, I discover that a giant hand has put it back where I'd started. 

(These are usually the times when I meet a dozen new people, all of whom want to know if I've made any money publishing yet.)

Also: there have been too many days when I feel like a fraud, a slug, or a parasite. 

Which is why I make sure I read this quote. Every night.

Not in the hopes of summoning some writing-life equivalent of the tooth fairy (the plot unsnagging fairy? the I'm-adding-3-or-5-or-7-hours-to-your-day fairy?) to visit, but more for the nightly hang in there.

Because all these pebble-pushing days just might add up to something wonderful.

Hang in there. It is astonishing how short a time it can take for very wonderful things to happen. - Frances Hodgson Burnett