The Bushido of Writing: The Second Virtue

Persistence

The Way of the Bushido Writer is met with many obstructions. In
matters of road blocks, we cannot heed the immortal words of Janis
Joplin, for our load is always a heavy one. Whether a ton of bricks
dropped from on high by the Muse, or the equally oppressive weight of
those bricks’ absence. An outline is not a shield against these
blocks. The Bushido Writer is reactive, adaptive, and merciless. He
pushes through, toward the next sentence, the next paragraph, the next
chapter, the end, the deadline.

The Way of the Bushido Writer is also found in rejection. Meditation
on inevitable rejection should be performed daily. The Bushido Writer
should imagine every insult, every criticism, every superlative barb
in the editor’s arsenal. He should expect one hundred requests to be
met with one hundred refusals. Victory is always found in the hundred
and first.

The publishing industry is not his master, it is his battlefield. He
serves only the craft of writing. His struggle is to make himself
heard, to see his work recognized. He wields story and manuscript with
deadly, singular purpose. The Bushido Writer knows that rejection is
neither a slight nor a defeat. It is only another cut, another blow to
be deflected. The Bushido Writer meets every form letter, every pass
from an agent, every platitude from an editor with cold steel. His
counterattack is resubmitting. His strategy should be many-fold.

And in this combat, defeat cannot be dealt by his opponent. Shelving
one’s story, capping one’s pen, closing one’s Word document is
tantamount to laying down arms and giving your throat to the hungry
blade of the gatekeepers who wish you to quit, for good and for all.
Relenting is the ultimate anti-virtue for the Bushido Writer.

The second virtue: Persistence.

[written by Matt Wallace, used by permission]