The Wait and the Peck
In which I highlight the hardest part of writing (The Wait)and what to do about it (The Peck).
Recently, author Greer Macallister discussed her thoughts onwhat she considers the hardest part of writing: the Wait:
“Writers in the process of publication are always waiting. Waiting on agents, waiting on editors, waiting for publication, waiting for cover designs, waiting for reviews, waiting for a verdict on the proposal for our next book, waiting, waiting, waiting.”
You wait for an agent/editor to respond to your pitch oryour proposal.
You wait to hear from beta readers, or interview subjects.
You wait for the mailperson to hurry up and bring yourcoveted research that took months to locate.
You wait for an editor’s thoughts on the revision.
You wait for months and months and months on publicationschedules.
The Wait can be debilitating, especially – if you're like me -- patience is not one of your virtue s.
What you don’t want to do is check your email every hour tosee if anyone responded. You don’t want to email your editor, or agent or betareader every two days to ask if they had a chance to read it yet. Nor do youwant to shower them with promises of chocolate in the hope that it might helpthe process.
What you can do, as Holly Schindler recently suggested inher article, is The Peck.
There are all sorts of advice on how to deal with The Wait.(Take a walk. Read a book. Take a course. Be sociable. Garden.) The Peck, itturns out, is one of my favorite strategies. As Holly offers,
“I’ve tried all sorts of different approaches to juggling multiple jobs over the years, searching for a process that fit me and my working style the best. Never was this more important than this year, when I was taking several courses and expanding into commercial illustration and editing in addition to keeping up with my full-time writing.”
Keeping fairly loose schedules, Holly does a little bithere, a little bit there. In the end, she discovered, if she finds she’s makingprogress on everything, she feels less overwhelmed.
For me, I peck at working on two or three projects at once.While I wait to hear on one project, I peck on another outline, following anarrative structure arc so I stay organized. I may read a chapter or two ofresearch, making notes to fill in the action timeline. I’ll work on charactersketches. But I may also discover an interesting tidbit along the way – newresearch, for example, that seems very promising. It’s not uncommon for me tostart research on a new project while weaving the threads on another.
Even as I work on a draft, I find that The Peck works to myadvantage. Switching gears, if only for a bit, allows the scene to simmer abit. It allows characters to stew a bit in their muck. If I’m working on aparticularly hard scene, taking a break gives my brain a minute to process. Through theyears, I find that I am most creative in the morning hours; thus, I use themorning hours to work on my draft while using the afternoon to Peck.
Of course, you still have to do the other stuff. Burn-out isa very real thing When you take care of yourself, you’re a better writer. Thisis why patience is key.
“Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active; it is concentrated strength.” – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
-- Bobbi Miller
