Patience is a virtue (unfortunately)

Hi there Goat Herd,

One of the less glamorous truths about making a long-form series is that it requires a level of patience that an outside observer will never see.

I don’t mean that kind of “inspirational” patience that people talk about that doesn’t really exist. You know the kind, where someone is just sitting there, meditating with wind chimes in the background, calmly waiting for something to happen.

I mean the kind of patience where you keep going while very little seems to be happening.

You make pages before there’s an audience, you improve in private, you solve problems nobody notices and you show up long before there’s any obvious reward. There are periods where growth is real but difficult to measure. That’s where long stories are usually built.

A lot of creative work gets discussed at the moment of arrival: the successful launch, the finished book, the viral post, the big milestone or the visible momentum. But for the most part, there are months where literally nothing particularly exciting happens.

Those are the stretches when you think “It’s been a hot minute since I put out a book. Are people even going to remember my characters’ names?”

A series like Sacrimony was never going to come from one burst of inspiration or one lucky break. It came from returning to the work again and again, even when nobody was watching; just me, my desk and a massive cup of coffee. And maybe snacks. Because snacks are nice.

And the obligatory cat on my lap that I now need to maneuver my arm around to draw.

Or this. because this happens a lot too.

Anyway, it’s about learning to create when the novelty has worn off. I say this like it’s easy, but there are days when it’s tough. Even when you love the thing you’re working on and you’re grateful you even get to work on it.

That’s one of the many reason I respect long-running projects so much.

They aren’t sustained by hype alone. They’re sustained by patience, stubbornness and continuing when it would be easier to get distracted by the next shiny new project.

If you’ve ever felt like your own progress is taking too long, I understand that feeling. But some things can only be built at the speed they require.

Talk soon.
-M🖤