There are a few different things you have to get used to if you want to be a published author. One of the biggest ones is... waiting. There's lots of hard work, and deadlines, and goals, and writing, and all that. But then there's the wait. We work, we hope, we send off our stuff. And then we wait. And wait.
Hurry up... and wait some more.
Writing, reading, editing, revising, copy editing, printing, PUBLISHING a book takes time. There are moments of hurrying and then there is waiting. Waiting for the response from a CP, waiting to hear back on a query, waiting to hear back on a request, waiting for revision notes from your agent, waiting on editors to respond to submissions, waiting for your edits, waiting for your publication date.
Another time when there is a lot of waiting? When you're pregnant. I have no idea why that would be on my mind, but it is. It has nothing to do with the little person rolling and spinning and kicking and stretching in my belly; basically making herself very well known. How is that I feel like I've been pregnant forever, and still have so long to go? And yet, at the same time, I can't believe I'm going to have another baby in about 10-12 weeks! A whole new person, a lovely, untouched soul entering the world in such a short time, who will be completely reliant upon me... that'll make you pause for a minute, to say the least.
So, back to writing. Getting an agent can be like this, and having your book coming out on a shelf (aka published) does, too. You want something so badly. You go through all the ups and downs, the pain, the longing, the hard work (that's usually more applicable to writing, not pregnancy), the nausea (usually more applicable to pregnancy, than writing), you get the idea. It takes time and work and effort and patience to publish a book, or to bring a baby into the world. Because ultimately, you can't rush things. And you shouldn't want to. No matter how uncomfortable I already am (hello ligament pain, aren't you fun! not to mention a few other side effects that are new this time around but I won't mention), I definitely don't want my baby coming out too soon. I want her to be fully developed, full term, healthy, happy, strong.
The same goes for my "book baby"--I don't want it out in the wild prematurely. I want it to be fully developed and the best it possibly can be before it hits a shelf. And that means I have to wait. Wait for this baby to be done cooking, wait for the timing to be right for my book.
Hmm... did that analogy actually make sense? Or did it just end up sounding like the ramblings of a crazy preggo who's trying to convince herself it's a good thing she still has about two and a half months to go? Eh, I tried.
What about you? What are you waiting for? And do you ever get used to it?
6 comments:
I once heard on TV that the average human spends about 1/3 of their life waiting. They meant waiting in lines and stuff, but I always think they should add a statistic for writers.. Because we spend 9/10 of our lives waiting! At least it feels that way!
Right now I'm waiting to hear back from agents! Ugh, it's a hard wait!
Aww, I'm a little jealous of your kicker-nudger in there. Babies are so worth the waiting. Published books are, too. :) But yeah. Pregnancy is hard. And so is writing, revising, etc. Both are a labor of love, and a marathon of patience. Great post, totally from the heart. I love it.
As a mother of a premie (born 13 weeks premature) and two full termers, I can honestly say, the nine month wait is definitely worth it.
My kids are very impatient. I keep telling them not to become writers. ;)
I think it's an excellent analogy. And it actually makes me feel better about the process. :D
So true. Waiting seems to be a theme going around the blogosphere this week. :) Probably because it's so prevalent in this industry. Great analogy.
I think it's part of the industry. Those overnight sensations seem to be fewer and farther between. I'm an impatient person by nature, but have grown more patient after having two rug rats. I think they helped prepare me for this stage of my writing "career" - waiting for publishers to get back to my agent on submissions that they requested. Writing and having a baby are a lot alike!
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