If you want to be a writer, you need to practice patience. You’re going to need it. Lots of it.
https://flic.kr/p/djZXch http://goo.gl/VAhsB
Anyone who has been through the mill of submission to agents or trad publishers will know the routine of a rush of activity in the lead up to submission, followed by a strange mix of excitement and terror when you actually post your manuscript or press send.
https://flic.kr/p/8ipt1u http://goo.gl/VAhsB
Then comes a few days of fevered anticipation as you check the post/inbox on an hourly basis. The logic being that your manuscript when it arrives at its destination is going to scream such quality that someone important will drop everything else they were doing to read it immediately and respond with similar alacrity.
When those first few days pass, the enthusiasm levels take a dip. You remind yourself that the people you are submitting to are busy people. You’ll give them a week. But a week turns into two. Then a month. Make that six weeks?! Slowly the horror begins to dawn on you that you may never hear back.
https://flic.kr/p/9bUbH3 http://goo.gl/sZ7V7x
Was the package lost in the post? Was the email lost in the hell of internet limbo or worse languishing unloved in a spam folder somewhere? You resolve to find out whether it safely arrived but that usually opens up a whole new round of playing the waiting game.
https://flic.kr/p/5y2Uqm http://goo.gl/sZ7V7x
Sometimes you’ve waited so long that by the time a form letter/email arrives thanking you but telling you that your manuscript was not for them you are almost relieved. At least you can stop wondering now.
Waiting is intrinsic to writing so you’d better get used to it and find ways to cope with it because even though the advent of email may have speeded up some things the wheels of publishing still turn pretty slowly.
https://flic.kr/p/axko2Q http://goo.gl/VAhsB
Think indie publishers are exempt from the waiting game? You’d be wrong. More on that in The Writer’s Waiting Game Part Two next week.
ellieholmesauthor.wordpress.com 
It’s a harsh world for a writer. We have to write, re-write, submit query letters, and market our own work.
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Yep! You’ve got to really love it to want to do it but at least it sorts the wheat from the chaff because the ones who think they’re going to make a quick buck realise it’s far harder than they ever thought leaving the way clear for the dedicated ones. Ellie x
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That’s so true! I hope one day my writing will break through. I’ve been waiting for over a year and half though, so I’m not hoping that much anymore.
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I spent ten years waiting for a trad deal before finally speaking to my agent, pulling the plug and going indie. It’s a lot of work but I haven’t regretted it. To give yourself the best possible chance however you must get feedback on your writing from either critique services or writers’ groups. Good luck. Ellie x
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Thanks for the advice^^ And that’s a long time to wait =(
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That was just my experience. Doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone. I only mentioned it because it’s the not giving up that matters.
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Very true; not giving up is important.
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😊
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Been there, done the waiting, both agent/traditional and indie. As indie at least you have a bit more control.
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And unlike some things waiting doesn’t get easier with practice 😦
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