Writers are impatient.  Well this one is, but as I just told a commenter on my blog who is setting out to write her first book, patience is required and I had to learn to “cool my jets” during most of the process.

You know the phrase, used mostly by kids, “I can’t wait for Christmas,” or “I can’t wait for my birthday,” or if you are an adult and working a full time job, “I can’t wait for the weekend.”  You won’t ever hear a writer say, “I can’t wait for…whatever…” because they MUST wait.  And they must wait with good manners, i.e. not seeming like an impatient jerk.

First, there was the angst over actually getting the book done – which can take years.  Then, there is the urgency to have someone read it.  Then there are the tense moments and anxiety waiting on emails with feedback from beta readers.  Then one must take the time to find an editor they can connect to and work with on making their “baby” the best it could be.  There is the patience required when working through the re-writing, and then the waiting on  feedback and then re-writing some more. Next, comes the query process and the agent search and the patience of waiting weeks for those decisions – yes, no?  Damn.

In all honesty though, the agent search happened more quickly for me, but I WAS prepared for the long haul.  Which brings me to the most recent waiting period – at least the one I’m in.  The manuscript currently sits with fifteen different publishers.  Even my agent said, “now the hard part, the wait.”  And so we wait.   Other factors play into this wait…there was spring break with kids, the Easter holiday, and the sluggish minds not yet ready to get back to the daily grind, mine included.

But wait! (pun intended?)  What I can appreciate is,  at this very moment, I have this quiet solitude in which to write.  I should cherish it because something tells me if and when there is a publisher, all of that will no longer exist, at least not for the foreseeable future.  So, truthfully.  Can I wait?  Maybe.