1. Check email every five minutes.
2. Stare at laptop, thinking, “Maybe I should check my email.”
3. Read through the first page of EVERY book on your bookshelf to see if the first page of your manuscript can compete.
4. Cyber-stalk any agents and/or editors you submitted your work to.
5. Open up the emails you ALREADY sent to the agents and editors to make sure there aren’t any mistakes (this serves absolutely no purpose, since the email’s already been sent).
6. Open up the emails you already sent to the agent/editors to make sure you sent them to the right address.
7. Drink caffeinated beverages. This does nothing to alleviate the erratic state of mind that comes with waiting.
8. Eat half a pan of brownies. This also does nothing to alleviate the erratic state of mind that comes with waiting.
9. Wish pieces of your life away….this is very sad. Time is priceless. We can’t get it back.
10. Do nothing. Just sit and think things like, “I wonder if so-and-so has opened my email yet.” Or, “How do I know my email didn’t get shuffled to the spam folder?”
Not that I’ve done any of these. Of course not….
Please join me on Wednesday, when I discuss healthy ways to pass the waiting.
Question to Ponder: What are some unhealthy habits you’ve developed while waiting for your dreams to come true?
I'm relieved. By these comments, it appears as if I'm not the only one who's adopted some unhealthy waiting habits. Thanks for sharing! I hope you come back tomorrow to get a dose of healthy waiting habits!
Love,
Katie
Great post. I do have to watch out for brownies and Dr Pepper. :]
Make that "suing".
Sueing McDonalds has been tried, can you sue the publishing industry for making you fat? hmmm…
By the way, I'm your new follower, and I completely identify with these things. Here's one more:
Reading your sent e-mail to agent/publisher and trying to imagine how it might impact someone who is reading it for the first time, like you can really be that objective and like it isn't too late for that one, too!
I'm so glad to know that I'm not alone. The only thing I'd add to the list is biting fingernails I haven't bitten since Elementary School. And burning the extra calories from the pan of brownies by pacing the floor between the phone and computer.
Looking forward to Wednesday's more productive post.
Fun Post Katie. I pace…a lot…and sometimes with a stiff drink in my hand.
you are awesome to read my chapter for me. now i'm going to email it off and try not to do any of these 10 things. (yeah, right!)
LOL- love the checking emails every two seconds bit. Waiting is HAAAARRRDDD. All the best Katie.
Yup, done all ten! I've only sent mss out a few times and only by request after conferences but the waiting was so hard. Fortunately most responded relatively soon, but one agent never replied at all and that was frustrating. I did a polite followup, checking to make sure she had received my e-mailed submission and she didn't bother to reply to that either, which I thought was the epitome of rudeness. She was a well-respected agent and I've since learned that it's not uncommon. No reply mean no, but still… it drove me nuts. I wish you speedy responses and agents competing to represent you. 🙂
I've been there lady. Yep. Or if you're waiting for a snail mail response, you can check the mail six times a day although it obviously only comes once. Good times.
Oh, hilarious, Katie, my long lost sister!! I've absolutely done this too! The mind-games of waiting! And I know this piece of advice is overused, but I'll say it anyway, because it TOTALLY helped me to wait when my MS was in Rachelle's slush pile for months: put your mind into writing the next book and doing even better with it. Because then you can continue to hold onto hope that there's always the next, better book to help you break in!
*SNORT* SO FUNNY Katie 🙂 I haven't done the query waiting game yet, but I imagine it would look EXACTLY like this ;P
Just as Sarah said, I would be turning to chocolate to get me through all the anticipation. There have been times I am thnakful for my other job to occupy my thoughts before they threaten to consume my every waking moment.
Love the new picture and the funny post today!
I'm just impressed with those who have put themselves out there and have a reason to wait. Whenever my stress level rises in general, I tend to turn to the pan of brownies too…or cookies…or the bag of chocolate chips…or whatever form of chocoate I can get my hands on.
OMgoodness are you too funny? We are in the exact same boat!!!! I'm waiting with baited breath, I feel something so close I could almost touch it. Although realisticly it's probably a rejection, I have high hopes it is representation. I believe every word of God is true and His promises are for me as well. That's where my hope comes from. The bottom line is I have too much hope! =)
Oh Katie, I really feel like you wrote this post just for me! Lol. Yeah, so I'm a compulsive e-mail checker and since it's been over a week now since I sent out a few queries I am starting to wonder when something is going to start trickling in. I HOPE something trickles in. I think not hearing anything is the worst. When I first started querying it was almost all snail mail–so you just had to wait for the mail to come. But now, with e-mail, it's so much harder!
Oh, man, I think I've done all of these!
Best advice: Move on to the next project. Get deeply involved in something else so the wait doesn't seem so long.
And I love the new pic. It's stunning!
Katie there are almost too many to name! Like every one you listed plus a hundred more!
I have something to ponder and pray over now, thank you. I don't want me to get in the way of my dreams!
Blessings to you…
4a) Seriously consider ASKING an agent to start a blog or get a Twitter account so that you can cyber-stalk them more effectively.
BTW love your new photo up top. I probably check my e-mail a little too often….. and eat chocolate, then salt…. then chocolate, then salt…. :O)
Too funny, Katie. You crack me up, and remind me of me! Oops!
Let's see, I've spent hours worrying, and I too eat brownies or candy. I must enlarge my hips to accomodate our ever-growing grandkids!
7&8 are right up my alley.
Sometimes I talk too much while I wait, to my husband, to friends…out of nervousness…talk, talk, talk. Boooooriiinnnnggg…
Fun list!
~ Wendy
MARYBETH!!! Not a brownie eater???? You've obviously never had any of MY brownies… Goodness!
Okay now that that's over…
Katie, I didn't know you lived so close to me that you could come over and watch how I live my waiting life! Sadly, many of these came WAY too close to home…. and since I'm mailing out my manuscript today to the agent who requested it, I REALLY need Wednesday's post…*grin*
I'm not a brownie eater…but I'm sure I did something of a similar sort. Great list. Keep your chin up, you'll hear back sooner than you think ;D
I've got to say with respect to writing, I'm actually rather healthy, but with other things I tend to mope the time away. Very sad!
So glad you're not doing any of those things, Katie! You've nothing to worry about. Remember, it's all in God's hands!!!!
Oh, those are so funny, Katie! I think I've done them all.
Oh my gosh Katie!!! I've done all that, esp. the brownies part. LOL! Looking forward to Wednesday's post.
I hope you have a good day today!
Very funny…and sadly, so true! I'm not waiting like you are, but surely this is a long-haul wait, right? Don't let life pass you by!!!! lol