WRITERS: How Do YOU Cope with Waiting? Toot Your Horn Friday!
Waiting, waiting, waiting! It feels like life is one big line at Starbucks, everyone grumbling under their breath, fiddling with their cell phones, and waiting patiently for their Mocha-Chi-Skinny-Venti-Lattes. As writers, that line seems even longer! Whether you're waiting on agents to read your hottest query revision, waiting for a publisher to read your latest and greatest manuscript, or waiting for your book to debut--WE ALL MUST WAIT and WAIT and WAIT! YUCK!
I'm waiting right now on a couple things, hoping and praying for awesome news! So, my Toot Your Horn Friday question...How do YOU cope with the waiting? Do you bite your nails down to mealy, jagged nubs, refresh your poor weary inbox for the 900th time, or perhaps sink your angst in the bottom of a key lime pie? I may have done that last one myself recently... ;)
So let's have it! How have you dealt with the endless waiting we writers must endure?
Hit me!
xoxo -- Hilary
Write more. Isaac Asimov once said, "If the doctor told me had six minutes to live, I'd type faster."
ReplyDeleteAlso, that writer's widow/widower, friend-replaced-by-present-project, child with upturned sad eyes pleading "Hold me", and flowers wilted from neglect--they all need a bit assurance You the Writer still care for them very much and love them very much, so the next time You the Writer entomb yourself in that room to pound out the next opus, they have no doubt you will emerge to embrace them once again.
I *try* to devote myself to another project, be it a writing project or something else. I say *try* because the impatience/fear/hope/anxiety is always there, waiting not-so-quietly to fill any silence that may occur.
ReplyDeleteI do everything BUT check my email... and then sneak up on it and check it anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't have that email forwarded to my blackberry as that would make me absolutely unbearable no matter where I am, not just when I'm in front of my laptop.
Good luck with your waiting!!!
I work at Starbucks..hahahaha all those crazy drinks.. lol.. waiting is the worst... I check my email like 20 times a day.. and when I get a response.. I breath in and out.. click... then usually i frown cause its not what I want to hear...but none the less I love the process.
ReplyDeleteSince I don't drink coffee at least I don't have to put up with those lines. I admit to being impatient with lines. But when it comes to work, once I send it out I say a little prayer for it and give it over to God. (sometimes I take it back again, though). Then I try to get to work on something new. Saying the serenity prayer every minute or so can't hurt, either.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. I hope your news is wonderful.
I have so much going on in my life right now that I honestly don't have a lot of time to obsess about it. Right? Um, yeah, sure, I'll just keep telling myself that... ;)
ReplyDeleteI keep writing. Oh, there are moments of freak-out, of being sure this-will-never-end or this-won't-end-well, but I've trained myself not to dwell in those places too long. They just lead to more tears, depression, and not writing for long periods of time.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is always to get back on the horse!
I read blogs. Check email. Write something. Rinse and repeat.
ReplyDeleteThe only way I can wait without getting impatient is if I immerse myself into something else and "forget" about the thing I'm waiting for.
ReplyDeleteSince I'm in the middle of the BIG WAIT at the moment, I can easily write about what I do . I bury myself with projects and these can be writing related or not. The problem with these waiting periods is that I can become obsessive. Like today, for example, I planted 59 tomato seeds. Count them! Pray I hear something soon before I start on the corn crop. Anyone have garden space for a few extra plants?
ReplyDeleteI'm not a patient person, but lawd if I haven't had to learn to be patient!
ReplyDeleteBut I toss I turn I have crazy dreams . . . I try to distract myself -
We sure do have to wait a lot, don't we?
Good post, Hilary. BRB, have to check my email. As I was saying, I was wondering...BRB...Ugh, nothing...how other people deal with the waiting too. I'm fairly patient. I BRB....
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
personally speakin, i prefer to wait inside the loo!! perhaps this way i try to hide myself from what is happenin outside.Though i aint a coward
ReplyDeleteI haven't got to the waiting stage yet - although I understand the feeling from writing magazine articles and waiting for a response. Generally, I don't cope. I obsess and obsess and obsess. Then, when I find out if the article is accepted or not, I am either overjoyed or down in the dumps for a week.
ReplyDeleteLife is all about waiting...but I think either you live or you wait.
ReplyDeleteSo, I distract myself from impatient waiting by doing all the stuff that needs to be done.
Shelley
Thanks for your thoughts everyone!
ReplyDeleteThe worst for me is when I'm into what I'm doing and I forget that I'm waiting on news and then it hits me again! Just when you thought you might be normal... :)
xoxo -- Hilary
I just make myself purposely forget that I'm waiting. I don't know why, but I'm pretty good at it. I just throw myself into some other aspect of life. And then when THE email does show up in my inbox, it's a pleasant surprise.
ReplyDeleteI pretend to ignore it. Then I think about how the ignoring isn't working and my email is probably full of things I should be paying attention to. Ignore for a little longer.
ReplyDeleteIgnore this whole stupid ignoring bit and turn to foot tapping/nail biting/long rambling emails to friend.
im there too
ReplyDeleteTwizzlers, ice cream, prosecco and (occasionally) tears. Yeah, waiting BLOWS. Hope your wait ends happily! Amazing how it never ends, right?
ReplyDeleteUgh, I'm going through this right now. I have a publisher who requested my full and they said it will take 3-5 months for a response. It's only been 2 months and it feels like forever. I just keep trying to put it out of my mind and work on my new project. But key lime pie could definitely help.
ReplyDeleteI recently queried agents for the first time, and the waiting is torture!
ReplyDeleteBut you just have to find something else to occupy your mind or you go crazy!
When I'm waiting, I award people for their creativity. I've awarded you a "creative writing" blog award. Visit my blog for details http://tinyurl.com/yhwklm8!
ReplyDeleteIt isn’t the waiting that is the difficult part; it’s where I say good bye to all my characters. After spending 90,000 words together we are pretty close. So, now I say goodbye to Kael, Alisha, Lucas, Jenn, and Devon. Meanwhile, I say my prayer, close my outlook, and begin to write again.
ReplyDeleteShain
I guess I'll have to wait for knowing that feeling but I think I'd do what I usually do when having anxiety about something. I'd go to the movies, or read those books waiting by my bed.
ReplyDeleteAnd probably do some more writing.