If you are a doctor, you need patients. If you are a writer, you need patience. Doctoring can be a monetarily enriching process for most in the medical field. Writing can be a futile search for monetary enrichment nearly 97% of the time. Most medical doctors earn at least a comfortable living from their field. Most writers earn at least a modicum of poverty. Most medical doctors are respected merely upon hearing the Dr. part. Most writers are avoided or at least asked to submit countless pages of successful ventures, and only a politician is capable of lying at such a rate.
My advice to writers is to expect nothing and praise the hand that gives it to you. Treat rejection like it is the key to a major city. Sobbing by rejected writers is a sign of inexperience. When you get that first royalty deposit, don't mistake it for a practical joke - another sign of inexperience. Always - work at raising your bar and lowering your requirements. Writing in the modern world is taking the money you were saving to buy a new car with and giving it to a publishing company to personally finance your new book with their name on it and in it.
After all is said and done, write for the simple love of doing it, expressing yourself. We're only ever as good as we think we are in our eyes, our spouse's eyes, our mother's eyes, and the fake fan letters we get so tickled over writing. If you love to write and do it religiously with a passion, someone, somewhere was born to love your writing. After all, how many people ever do anything more than talk about doing what they love?
One last point, try writing for God's glory. Personally, I found writing for any other reason and subject so very boring and unsatisfying. Whether I was published or not, I have never been uninspired nor bored working in this direction. To my surprise, I have actually influenced people in a good way by doing this. I have a real and heavenly purpose when writing for God's glory, not mine. But keep writing. As always, Jim Newton says, "I love you all!"
