The Waiting Game: Will it ever end?

I’ve been published, what, three weeks now? (I don’t know if signing a contract is considered being published, but for arguments sake we’ll say it is.) And already I feel like running through the house screaming and ripping out my hair. Why? Because I have to sit and wait, yet again. I’ve found that being a writer means you wait.

While you’re trying to get published, you wait for the rejections to come flying through the mail or email, which can take up to five months (or more!) to receive. There are some queries I sent out three years ago and I’m still waiting for a response. (Of course by now, I’m willing to bet they’re rejections.) Finally, when you get in contact with an editor and they show interest and ask for revisions, you do them as quickly as possible, and send them in only to have to wait some more. (This waiting is of course accompanied with much cursing, nail biting, and gnashing of teeth.) Then the wonderful day arrives and you get a contract! Yippee! So you sign the contract, and do you know what happens next? - you wait.

You wait to hear back from your overworked editor who not only has to deal with your impatience, but all her other authors, plus new submissions. I know for a fact my editor is inundated with new submissions, no doubt every week, which can only mean her work pile is getting higher and higher. Meanwhile, I’m sitting at home, grinding my teeth, waiting (there’s that word again) for the first edits to arrive. And once all the editing is done, then I’ll be waiting to see the cover, and then I’ll be waiting for the book to come out, and then I’ll be waiting for the reviews to arrive . . . as you can see the waiting never ends.

You’d think with all the waiting I’ve done for the last seven years, I’d be use to it by now. But for some reason this time feels different. Maybe it’s because this is my first book and I’m anxious to see something happen. To have proof that I finally succeeded. I imagine in the future, the waiting will be easier to handle once I know what to expect. But for now, I have to grin and bare it. (*snort* More like complain.) So what can I do to end my ‘waiting blues’? Well, I can start working on my latest manuscript, that’s what. Which I will, once all my other responsibilities are done. And I’m willing to bet just as I start to really get into working on my ms, the edits will arrive. Because that’s Murphy’s Law. *grin*

Being a writer is a lot like the military: you hurry up and wait.