Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Caught in a Waiting Pattern


Right now I'm in that odd place, a place I'm not at all comfortable with- waiting and finished.

I'm waiting for all sorts of things. Like most writers I'm waiting to hear about contest results. I'm waiting to hear about submissions I've sent out. I'm waiting for a big project to start. I'm waiting for the ending of this episode of the sitcom in which I star called "Searching for an Agent".

And I'm waiting to find out what the White Frog which has been living in my office for the last three weeks wants with me. "What?? What do you want???" Anyone speak Frog??

So on one side waiting is crushing me like an empty tin can in a room with high pressure. But normally when I wait I keep busy with projects so the waiting doesn't crush me quite so much. I always have projects going. I was sure I had plenty to do at least until the end of the year but it looks like I didn't. I finished the major edits to The Vanishings, my first book in the Dambuza Chakalisa detective series. I've sent it out to a few places and am ...(you guessed it) waiting. I also finished my attempt at writing in the romance/thriller genre, Love in the Shadows, and have sent it out into Submissionland too. My desk is scarily empty.

I don't want to start a new project now because I'm waiting to see if the big project I've been asked to work on gets the go ahead, which I hope happens soon. Yesterday in a complete fit of madness, I cleaned my entire house. That's not normal behaviour. I'm not sure it's healthy. Today I even trawled around looking for a few freelance gigs to fill time and I'm so over freelancing. Things are getting serious.

Waiting- does it do your head in like it does mine? What do you do to distract yourself? Please, help this poor writer.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

just chillax and go swimming

authorsoundsbetterthanwriter said...

Hehe. Glad to see it's not only me. Being a writer is all about the waiting. It's like I'm always checking my emails to hear back from someone. I wonder if it ever ends.

Lauri said...

Yes Anonymous I think in this heat the only option is the pool.

Author- so it's all of us forever on hold then? I too am a terrible email checker. It's pathetic really.

Sue Guiney said...

Cleaning? My God, has it come to that? But I know what you mean. I always have to have a big project on the go. I can bear a week without one, but otherwise, I just get into trouble, creating trouble where it really isn't. How about trying your hand at something you never do just to see how it feels...poetry? flash fiction? a haiku series?....

Lauri said...

Those are great ideas Sue. Luckily the last two days of the week brought a bit of progress in the waiting. One agent rejection :(, one agnet asking for 50 pages and now an acceptance for romance number 4 wiht lots of edits to do in a very short time. This is great!