Waiting for something to happen is difficult for me, and it seems I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I’m presently in Seattle, about to return on a lo-o-ong flight home to Florida tomorrow after waiting for my second little grandson to arrive. Max, however, is not about to make an appearance just yet. More waiting…
Oh, wait!! I started this in Seattle and I am now in South Beach, still waiting for Max! Hmmm, Waiting for Max sounds like a title for one of my children’s stories… But seriously, I do want to address the issue of waiting. As writers, it’s something we’re all forced to do.
At the moment, I’ve got manuscripts out to an agent and three others out to editors. Again, I’m waiting. The agent has truthfully told anyone submitting to him that it will be 3-4 months and probably longer before an answer will be given. It’s been over five months and I’m still waiting. Others tell me that’s good news, but I will have to wait and see.
What you do while you’re waiting is crucial to the game of writing. I’m lucky because I have several manuscripts I’m working on for both Women’s Fiction and Children’s novels. Without them, I think I’d go crazy. As I work on one, the others sit and gather a bit of waiting time, which, I’ve discovered, is very precious. I can go in, see silly mistakes, tighten passages and produce a better product…all while I’m waiting.
What do you do as you await responses from publishers, agents , contests, and others in the business who will help you succeed? Any tricks you want to share?
Hi Judy,
Hope your wait for little Max ends soon! Good luck to the mother, and all those in the waiting room. I understand the frustration of waiting for editors to get around to reading, and the continue round of submitting, tweaking, waiting and hoping. I sent off a book to Carina Press a couple of weeks ago, and another story that I rewrote to Samhain and Dorchester, and my agent is still shopping another book, plus I have another one which she'll be sending out next week. All we can do is keep writing something new, and moving forward. I try to be pro-active, by sending out my old stuff myself.
Yep, just keep writing. It's good to have a backlog of stuff to offer an editor or agent, and yes, manuscripts do need waiting time (well, at least mine always do). I like having two or three projects to work on at once, to avoid getting bogged down.
Keep us posted about Max!
Hey Judy, I do hope Max arrives soon. As for all that writing related waiting stuff, I did that endlessly before my advent at the Wild Rose Press. Now editors await my next work, which is overdo. :) I think you have the right idea with going back and bettering your work and writing new stories. Don't wait, while you wait.
Hi Judy,
I've been through the waiting process many times. Keep writing, and go on to other projects. When you least expect it is when you'll probably hear something. Good luck!
Max seems to be taking his own sweet time. I wonder if he's gonna be like that. Hmmm.
I keep working, and I try to forget the manuscript is out.
Good topic, Judy!
Thanks for all your comments. I will let you know when Max finally arrives. I like that we all try to keep busy while we're waiting...
I worry, I was born with an extra worry gene, carefully groomed by my mother into an art form.
So freeze and I worry!
Hi, Judy. Waiting for a child to arrive is the worse. I hope little Max shows up soon and everything goes well.
While I'm patiently waiting for an answer from an editor or agent, I keep busy on the next story. Or tweaking an older wip that I don't want to give up on.