Do you ever feel like you are running up-hill, only the "hill" is actually Mount Everest? I'm having one of those times. I'm about to whine a little bit, so be warned.
I am one of those people who likes to believe she is in control of her life. Normally I have no problem with this, but for the past few days I seem to be adrift.
I have things I need to do, but I have to wait on others to make their decisions, make the first move. Waiting has never been one of my best things. And, it's not just in my work life, although that is a BIG part of it. I wait for publishers and agents to respond to queries, partials and fulls. I need to get Midnight Sun published, there are two more finished novels hinging on the one. Yes, any of them could stand alone. But I wrote a series, I want a series, I read series. I warned you I would be whining.
Now I find myself waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop in my personal life as well. Will I get hired for the job I applied for? How will that affect my writing? My dogs?
I hate waiting.
The biggest boon you can have as a writer seems to be patience. I am so screwed! Never a virtue I aspired to, I seem to need it more than ever. A writer's life is pretty much hurry up ...and wait.
You hurry to get your ideas on paper, then wait as you tediously filter through the rough draft separating the wheat from the chafe, removing cliches and over used words, spell check, grammar check. Then you send it to your beta, and wait while they read it. Holding your breath all the while. With luck, they love it, if not it's back to revisions. Then it's time to submit it to your critique group, where you wait again. They have their own dead lines and works in progress. You check each day to see if anyone has found the time to critique your chapter, just one of many comprising the book, only to find...nothing. So, you wait some more. Finally after months of waiting and editing you think your manuscript is ready to send off, be it to agents or editors. You carefully get your submission package ready as per their requirements, send it off and ...you guessed it... wait some more!
The wait may be as little as a couple of weeks to months, all the while wondering will they want you, are you good enough, never knowing anything until you get an e-mail or an SASE. I have a submission out right now that has been on the editor's desk for 4 1/2 months. I've heard nothing. <Sigh>
They want you? (Not me, not yet.) So then it's edit again, you make the changes they request, send it back, and wait. Wait. Wait. You get them back with more edits. Hurry...then wait. The same with your proofs, your cover, your release date. Is it worth it? How would I know? I'm still waiting!
For me, this is the hardest part of being a writer. They say the easiest way to learn patience is to be forced to wait. If that is so, I should have the patience of Jobe.