Wait for it...

“How much of human life is lost in waiting?”

Well might you ask Ralph Waldo. Emerson, as a writer, would have known a thing or two about waiting because in this game you do an awful lot of it. It doesn’t matter whether you are starting out on your writing career, or if you’re a seasoned campaigner. It’s a waiting game.

Sometimes you’re waiting for the idea that has started to take shape in the fug-filled miasma of thoughts known as ‘creativity’ to really kick on and reveal itself for the genius it is. Sometimes you’re waiting for the knotty plot point you’ve been beating yourself up over to resolve itself (so you can get on with turning your genius idea into the masterpiece you know it’s destined to be). Sometimes you’re waiting for your muse to grab you by the throat, shake you about, and tell you that now is the time to unleash your potential and write up a storm.

These are things that, as writers, we can have some influence over. Most of the time it’s best not to wait for any of the above, but to simply get on with it and see what happens. That’s what I do, anyway.

It’s the other waiting that is more difficult to take. Waiting on others.

Waiting for an agent to come back to you with news about whether they want to represent you. Waiting for news from said agent, who is now representing you, about whether the publisher is going to make a bid for your work. Waiting for the publisher to get back to the agent about the revised bid. Waiting for your publisher to come back to you with their thoughts. Waiting for edits. Waiting for more edits. Waiting for contract monies due. Waiting for royalties. Waiting, waiting, waiting. It’s like being a kid again; when Christmas took at least two, maybe three, years to come round again.

This is the waiting that you have little or no control over; it’s the waiting that eats away at you and makes you want to scream in frustration (or write a blog article about it). As writers, we often feel alone. With solitude (even with the best support network) comes self-doubt and misgivings about your work and your abilities. And the glacial speed at which the publishing world seems to operate can be incredibly frustrating (and damaging) at these times. Queries go unanswered, edits take longer than agreed, cover illustrations are delayed, and publication dates are put back. Your writing life can go ‘on hold’ and there’s nothing you can do but wait until you’re finally put through to the helpdesk in Mumbai.

Maybe, with digital publishing, this is all about to change forever. Then again, maybe not.

I tell everyone that the most important thing you need to have as a writer is a thick hide. Maybe you also need a pool of infinite patience or a watch that doesn’t keep very good time.