Follow the Magic of the Three Ps

Passion, persistence, and patience are the three keys for good writing

Wake Up and Write is a regular advice column from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write. Today, we have Alka Joshi — author of The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur— who shared writing advice on the podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, hosted by Zibby Owens.

“I have three magic potions that I have come up with over time.”

“One of them is passion. You have to have passion for what you’re writing about. The moment you get tired of your characters or your story, your reader will also.

Number two is persistence. You have to stay with it. The first book took me ten years and thirty drafts. The second book, because I learned how to write a novel and I learned how to sustain character tension and plot tension throughout, only took me two years total. Persistence pays. You have to stick with it.

The third is patience. I am not patient with myself. I get frequently frustrated when things are not easy enough. I think, ‘Why isn’t this coming easier?’ My husband is the one who has taught me to be a lot more patient. He said writing is like anything else that you want to get good at, whether it’s painting or Olympic skiing. You have to tell yourself, ‘Okay, that didn’t work. I’m going to try it again. That didn’t work. I’ll try it again another way.’

That is the only way that you get good at writing. Passion, persistence, and patience I think are the three keys for good writing.”

Listen to the episode:

https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/alka-joshi-the-secret-keeper-of-jaipur

Buy the book:

https://bookshop.org/books/the-secret-keeper-of-jaipur/9780778331858