Friday, January 13, 2012

Waiting Patiently



Patience has never been my strong suit. I like things to happen right away. I wanted to grow up and be an adult, and then I wanted to be a mom, and then I wanted to retire and travel. So now I've done all those things and I want to have my stories published.

I've had two novellas published now, and after hearing about how long other people have to wait to see their books available, even in ebook form, I've been blown away by how quickly my novellas were put out. So it's been a puzzle as to why my third novella is taking so much longer.

I submitted the story in September and it was accepted right away. But I didn't get a cover design until December, and then the content edits finally arrived just before Christmas. I sent my revisions in a week ago, and am back to waiting. My head knows that this is not an unreasonable time line, but I'm still checking my email to see when the story is going to be finalized. My bookmarks and magnets have been ordered and I want to start handing them out!

In the meantime, I should be working on new projects. If I could get immersed in something else I wouldn't be obsessing over how long this other project is taking, right? Plus I'd have something else to submit. After three short stories, I should be polishing off my full-length novel. I should have an outline fleshed out for my local writing group's winter writing challenge. I should...well, you get the picture.

My point is the story will come out eventually. The bookmarks and magnets will keep until it's time to pass them out. I can't let the worry keep me from being productive. It's just not going to do me any good.

But I can't stop checking my email, just in case.
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My daughter and my mom love to wear scarves. I found some filmy scarf-like fabric in my stash that I originally planned to make some skirts out of. But I don't wear skirts that often, and I have trouble finding patterns for skirts that don't make me look like I'm as wide as I am tall. So I decided to cut the fabric into long scarves. All I had to do was stitch around the edges and I now have a set of three scarves for each of them! I'm thinking they'll make nice Mother's Day gifts. If I wrap them up now, hopefully I won't forget about them in May.

Today I'm participating in a Friday the 13th Blog Hop! There are prizes at each stop, and the prize for going through all the blogs is a brand new Kindle! Begin the hop by clicking here:

2 comments:

  1. Yes, waiting is not something any writer does well. Does any other group wait as much as we do? Wait to get accepted/rejected, wait to get published, wait for reviews, wait to get paid. No wonder we hate it!
    Love your scarves, Patty. I enjoy wearing different scarves, especially in this weather. Happy Friday the 13th. :)

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  2. I understand COMPLETELY Patricia. There is a certain publisher who is taking SO long to put out one of my titles (it's still not out yet) I am very reluctant to submit anything else to them. If my sales end up being tremendous because of their brand, I might reconsider. Otherwise, I like a quick turnaround...or at least a reasonable turnaround. Unfortunately having more irons in the fire doesn't make me more impatient, just a little more distracted!

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