The waiting game

 Please join the Wranglers in support of our own Nan Reinhardt, who lost a beloved sister Friday after a valiant fight with cancer. Our sympathy is with rest of Kathi Gasaway’s family, as well. As Nan says to us in the French she loves, bises galore.
     
          I am in a strange kind of writing time right now. I have been here before and will undoubtedly be here again. Now, as every other time, I don’t like it. It’s a time I wish I’d gone the indie route.
    
      I have two books completed and no home yet for either of them. An oldie by any standard you care to set, I feel like a newbie, waiting breathlessly for editorial approval. It’s not that the projects have been rejected—though one of them was by the first publisher I submitted it to—it’s that it’s been a long wait. July for one, August for the other.
          Which makes me remember the bad old early days of my career. When a long wait would have been a year or so (longer if you submitted to certain houses, which I always did) and anything less than three or four months almost always meant a resounding No.
          I remind myself that all things in publishing have changed, that I’m guilty of not keeping up, that sometimes the answer just is No and I need to suck it up, buttercup.
          This was not the post I intended to write. I wanted it to be upbeat, for Nan’s sake; happy, because Christmas is this week and I love Christmas; about sisters, because whether they are by blood, in-law, or made so by friendship, sisters are among life’s most precious things. But the words wouldn’t come.
          So, yes, they wouldn’t. Which means tomorrow—or maybe later in the week—they will. So, yes, I’ll suck it up. Thanks for listening.        
          Merry Christmas!



Comments

  1. Merry Christmas, Liz! And my thoughts are also with Nan today, and this week and ... forever.

    I don't have any great answers for you. I just turned in my next book to my editor last week and I'm in the same boat. It's already contracted so I know *in theory* that I'm waiting for revisions, not a Yes or No...but I'm still nervous about it and wondering about it and not comfortable enough - yet - to really get into a new project....

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    1. I think nerves are a big part of this business, aren't they? It's not something that seems to improve with time. :-( I think I often expect too much of the holiday season and need a big lesson on counting my blessings.

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    2. Thank you, Kristina! You're a sweetheart.

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  2. Oh, my dear sister, Liz, how I love you. How I depend on all my Wranglers and friends in this dark time. Sister Kathi was an avid reader and enjoyed this blog and my own. I'll miss her forever...there is a hole in my heart.

    Liz, I wish I could rattle some chains for you with publishers. Anyone who doesn't grab anything at all that you write is crazy, baby!

    Bises galore and Merry Christmas, my Wranglers!

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    1. Thanks, Nan. I know there will always be a hole there, but memories will soften its edges, and you have a ton of them!

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  3. First - Nan - I am so sorry to hear about your sister Kathi. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.

    Liz - I agree with Kristina - they should be snapping up your stuff. :) As a newbie who could wallpaper her house with rejections, and who also isn't fond of waiting, I absolutely get your frustration. Hang in there!!!

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    1. Thanks so much, Abigail. And thanks for coming by!

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  4. I remember the old days when you had to wait months and months and months. Once an agent had my book for a year before responding.
    You'll get snapped up soon. How can they not?

    Merry Christmas!

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