Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Why Does It Take So Long?

I'm sure I've said this before, but I am not a patient person. Had I known the amount of time I would spend as a writer, just waiting, I may have talked myself out of becoming one. As if.
But seriously. It's sooo painful! I mean, think about it. It's sort of like having a baby, although you're pretty much guaranteed with a kid that after nine months that sucker's out of there one way or another. Nine months is a long time to wait regardless. It's actually not unheard of for an agent or editor to take that long, although in my opinion, that's too long to have to wait for a yes or a no. The longest wait I had was actually two years. It was when I was looking for an agent, and I figured the response was a 'not for me' anyway since I never heard anything, even after following up. By that point, I knew that agent wasn't for me anyway, but I was shocked when I finally did get that form rejection letter in the mail!
So what's a frustrated writer to do?
Moan and groan on her blog of course. I mean really, how long does it take to read a manuscript and make a decision?
A while, apparently.
So here I sit. I've been really good this time around. I have two stories that I've been working on while I wait. One wasn't really going anywhere and so I started a new one. At least if all this waiting turns out to be for nothing, I'll have a new story ready to go in a few months or more. It is hard not to get discouraged though, when each day passes and I hear nothing. For some reason, I always think that if too much time passes, it's gotta be a no, they just haven't gotten around to telling us. I've actually convinced myself this is the case.
What do you think? How long have you waited for news, and what do you do to keep busy in the interim?

4 comments:

Jan Cline said...

I am with you on this. Been waiting for a publisher to get back to me. This week will be the week he said he would. It has been excrusciating! I know exactly how you feel. Lets hope we both get good news this week!
good luck!

Unknown said...

It took 9 months from the time I sent the query to the email from the publisher saying they wanted to buy my book. The waiting is tough!

Unknown said...
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Katie Ganshert said...

I can SO feel your pain! I'm sort of thinking the editors we haven't heard back from yet are all no's. I mean, the ms was submitted in mid Jan and not it's almost mid June. I'm assuming they're not interesting. Still waiting for one book going to Pub Board and very thankful for my new wip to distract me.