Fashion Girls

Tick. Tick. Wait. Tick.

I have two proposals out to publishers right now, and I am practicing the fine art of waiting.  Practicing, because I'm nowhere near perfect at this stuff.  I *hate* the waiting - it's like pouring water, manure, and sunlight onto all my seeds of self-doubt.

Yesterday, a NaNoWriMo person posted on another list I populate, saying that she was finding the whole NaNo process lonely.

Writing *is* lonely.  And it's frustrating.  And so much of it is out of our control.  And so much of it is spent waiting for other people on our teams to do their job.

But when it all comes together...  That makes the work, the loneliness, the frustration all worthwhile.

Tick.  Tick.  Wait.  Tick.  How much time has gone by?

What are your tips and tricks for dealing with waiting (if not for writing results, then for other potentially good things?)

Mindy, off to complete edits on SORCERY to fill the time in the most productive way
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Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 at 08:52 am | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Comments

(Anonymous)

Ways to deal with waiting? Sangria comes to mind :) I'm a horribly impatient person so I have no useful advice to give. I will say that it is better to be waiting during the holiday season when distractions abound rather than, oh say, January or February.

NaNo=torture. I've given up already. And yes, I'm aware that I'm a loser to quit so easily :)

-Stacy
Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 03:24 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]lisamantchev

The only way I can deal with the waiting is to write something else. Once I'm in the swing of the next short story (and now, the next novel,) I find myself poking the inbox and mailbox waaaaay less.
Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 03:37 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]ramblin_phyl

I work on the project in hand. I always have a project in hand.

Because I'm always broke I tend to stack new contracts. I currently owe my editor 2 books. One has a finished rough draft, the other has a sort of outline. So what do I do? Propose 2 more. Waiting for the U.S. Mail to deliver the contracts. They were sent priority mail from the east coast 8 days ago.
Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 04:10 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]sartorias

Amen on waiting. Especially when years go by.
Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 04:18 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]incandescence

I look for other distractions, but it rarely works. I'm horrible with waiting; that's when all my lovely self-doubt starts coming into play.

When I start playing the game in the writing field, I bet it's just going to get worse!
Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 05:26 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]a_vogon_poet

Oh, boy. Waiting is the pits. Especially if you're a worrier like me. I don't know that there ARE any tips or tricks that really work for me because it's all sitting there in my subconscious like a viper waiting to strike. Which was probably the least useful thing to say here.

I usually end up using the extra energy by cleaning or organizing or doing crafts. Something that's as far removed from the thing I'm waiting for as possible. :-)
Posted on Nov. 10th, 2006 07:56 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

I get totally absorbed in something else. Or else I get totally crazy.
Posted on Nov. 12th, 2006 07:05 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]eleika

Um, yeah, that was me. Sorry.
Posted on Nov. 12th, 2006 07:07 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

I used to freeze, and not be able to write while waiting. Nowadays, I'm too broke to stop writing, not even for a second. I'm always desperately worrying about the next penny, so I just write faster and harder.
Posted on Nov. 15th, 2006 06:18 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply