Trying to get published is an absolute lesson in patience. Basically from the time you start writing to the time you actually see your book in stores is anywhere from three years to….eternity and beyond.
You have to wait until you finish your book, first of all. I mean really finish it. Then you wait while beta readers help critique (if they are as awesome as mine, they don’t keep you in suspense for too long). Then you wait until you’ve completed the revision process. Then you wait until your query is perfect.
Then you send it out and reeaaaaally wait. This is the part you have no control over. Agents take around two to three months to get to most queries.
They ask for a partial. You wait a month. They ask for more. You wait another month. They offer you representation!!! You wait until papers are signed (another month) to make the announcements. They require revisions before they send it out to publishers. You do them in a few weeks. And then you wait awhile for the ‘okay’. They submit your novel!!! You wait anywhere from three to six months. Editors finally get back to you. They’re not interested. You wait some more. A house wants to publish it! You get a book deal. You wait to hear more info…weeks, months. You find out your release date is a year from now. Aaaand more waiting.
And this is a best case scenario. If you’re like me, you have to wait until you write ‘the book’ as well - which precedes all the other waiting there is to look forward to. Now- I hate waiting. I’ve said it before but I have the patience of a shitzu with bladder issues. HOWEVER, since starting this whole endeavor, I must admit I’ve gotten better at it.
I don’t check my email a million times a day after submitting anymore. (at least, not after the first week) I’ve stopped wondering about the when and the if and the how of it all and just figure ‘if it’s meant to be, it will be.’ I bide my time by writing (I’ve got a new YA romance in the works -A comedy that has me all wrapped up in writerly goodness) . Blogging, and reading. I’m not gonna lie - It took a LONG time to get to this point but eventually, I think everyone learns to wait if their forced to do it enough. One thing is for sure- without this process, I don’t know if I would have ever really learned the true meaning of 'patience'.
How do you deal with the Waiting Game?
PS- I'm hoping to get my old background back eventually but apparently 'thecutestblogontheblock' has contracted a virus that made it impossible to see my blog or any of my friends blogs that used 'cutest'. I want my creepy pink diner background back! Oh Cutest! How thou hast betrayed us all!
