Patience is a Virtue

(that I do not possess)

That publishing moves at a glacial pace is a widely known thing. It is spoken about often because it is the lived experience of nearly every writer. I once thought of myself as patient - I could stand in a queue for literally hours to see my favourite band, once even on the coldest November day. But I have realised that my patience had an end point, there was a door opening time, a band on stage time. I knew I wouldn’t still be in that queue a week later, or even weeks later.

Publishing is very different.

Glacial-paced Sloth = Publishing

When we submit our work, be it to agents we are querying, agents who are representing us, competitions, or editors, we do so with all the enthusiasm and love for our work that we can muster. We do it with expectation. And then we are usually met with weeks of silence. It is like a very large balloon deflating very slowly.

The silence and waiting is the worst part for me. It’s the time my brain tells me everything I’ve written is awful, and it is begging the universe to please get that response to me ASAP before I throw in all the towels. N.B. We NEVER throw in the towel. Instead, we look for new projects, the next new shiny distraction, because distraction is the only way (*checks email).

And I will say this: in the waiting times between edits being completed and feedback being given, I have managed to write a whole other book. This is a good thing! It’s what we should all be doing. But it doesn’t stop the niggle, the creeping doubt (oh, they must hate it and just can’t work out how to tell me!), it doesn’t stop the incessant, borderline insane email checking.

I actually sent my latest edits back to my agent feeling very zen about the whole thing, and this was the first time I’d felt like that. I was happy with the work I’d done but I’d also been commissioned for a ‘thing’ (yet to be announced) so my shiny distraction was actually something I could hold. I was in no rush for feedback. I was growing as a person. Patience WAS my virtue. Until it wasn’t. I AM a work in progress.

But honestly, the worst part of this industry moving so slowly is the expectations of others. The ‘where can I buy your book’ people, who get my stock answer ‘in most book shops once it’s published. You’ve no idea how slow it all moves!’, and they then side-eye me with a dollop of ‘you’re obviously not very good’. And I want to scream ‘YOU’LL SEE!! YOU’LL ALL SEE!!’. But I don’t, because I’m normal, and then I go and talk to people who know.

And this is where the writing community are the best. They are the people who understand, who you can vent to, who can tell you it was the same for them and it will all work out. They refocus the mind back onto the things you can control, because you can’t control the waiting. You can control your productivity, your learning, your growth. And so with that, I’m back to the secret project.

Hang on…

(*Checks email).

Happy writing! x