Writing World Wednesday: The Art of Patience

Most of know how it is.

We’ve brushed up our manuscript as best as we feel we possibly could have for the present moment. Our query letter is ready to send. We’ve done everything to gain attention (without resorting to bribery and violence...kidding!). We linger on our e-mail window, holding the mouse over the send button of a few agents.

The temptation, the hesitation...

Click.

Then you realize it.

You have just submitted yourself to the waiting process. You are going to be waiting for at least a week, if not two, if not three, for any reply. There is the random, amazing agent who will get a reply to you within the next day—alas, more times than one—a rejection. But you’ve still got hope, right? You have more submissions out.

You wait day by day, wilting away under the anticipation. You delve into your newest WIP in hopes of distractions, but before you know it, you’re bringing up your e-mail...

This waiting process, I say, is terribly unhealthy for us writers! We understand these agents. We sympathize with these agents. We hope. We understand all of the submissions they get, how many projects they have to sit and sift through in the slush pile; hoping to find that diamond in the rough. It can’t be easy. But as writers, only dealing with a few agents at a time rather than the agent deal with thousands at a time, we’re bound to be more impatient.

Human nature is, generally, impatient. We despise waiting. If someone’s smartphone freezes up, some would be tempted to curse and throw it away. I know that when my internet takes more than a few seconds to load up a webpage, I get agitated beyond belief. With the advent of superior technology, we have become much more vulnerable to the art of patience.

I don’t mean to chastise anyone—just saying! There are people out there who can wait without a problem. I envy these people. In the past when I sent out submissions, I would nearly hop around in excitement when I received a rejection. Just because I had heard back.

The biggest problem for me is the no-repliers. Even thinking about past no-repliers makes me grind my teeth, haha. It’s something we all must face one day, some time. As many of my friends say, it is a wonderful chance for character-building—the rejections and the waiting.

With that I’ll leave you to it. I don’t imply that agents make me angry by making me wait. This is just a little rant! My opinion is my opinion. That’s something everyone has to remember. There is no such thing as fact. Fact is opinion. And waiting...in my OPINION...really sucks. (: