The Waiting Game
One of the hardest things about being a writer is the waiting. Publishing is slooooooow, but the world around us is moving crazy fast so it feels like the pace is even more glacial than it maybe actually is. On top of waiting for my debut novel to come out, I now have two other projects that my agent is in the process of submitting….oh my god the agony!!! I jump every time the phone buzzes or rings or pings. I check my email obsessively. I pace. I drink. I (literally) wring my hands. I imagine my life as it would be if my editor loves these projects and wants to publish them. Then I freak out and scold myself because HELLO! Do I want to jinx myself or what?? I’m probably about two seconds away from an ulcer, but I can’t seem to calm down. This is not so good for one’s creativity. One of the ladies in my writer’s group just sent me an email today saying her writing’s gone to crap because she has a novel on submission as well and can’t stop checking her email, so I know I’m not alone.
I’ve learned to deal with the slowness once the book deal actually goes through – you just have to hunker down and work and trust that whatever they’re doing with your book is good and that deadlines are being met because, honestly, there’s not much more you can do. The whole thing is pretty much literally and figuratively out of your hands, unless it’s your revisions. There are marketing things you can busy yourself with, but that’s about it. The whole experience reminds me of that saying I used to hear in church: “Let go and let God.” That pretty much sums it up.
I wish I could say I have a Zen approach to the submissions process, but I don’t. Everything’s up in the air and you know it can all come together (or totally come crashing down on you) at any second. All you can really do is put good vibes out there, say your prayers, and keep an eye on any deadlines you and your agent have agreed to for exclusives and the like. But, basically, you just have to “sit tight” (I hear that a lot from my agent and editor – it’s quite apropos really…there’s nothing relaxed about the sitting and waiting). My poor husband has to deal with my endless hypotheticals and my worrying out loud, but I hope to make it up to him with another book contract.
Until then, it’s back to the work because that’s what it’s all about. Book contracts come and go, but the work is always there, waiting.
