August 21, 2009
Writing (and publishing) teaches you many things that can apply to other aspects of life. For example, you learn how to handle rejection. (If you don’t, you won’t stay in the business for long!) You learn how to see things from different points of view, including some you wouldn’t normally consider. And you learn how to wait. Because things move slowly in writing and publishing. Novels take months to write. Editors can take months to get back to you. Books can take months or years to reach bookstore shelves. It’s par for the course, just the way the system works…but as a writer, you need to learn how not to let it crimp your style. If you start thinking about all the things you’re waiting on and how long it’s been since you started waiting, you can drive yourself crazy.
The best tactic, I think, is to put it all out of your mind and keep plowing ahead on writing new projects. Keep cranking out new work and forget about what’s out there in limbo. My mentors, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, taught me this years ago, and it was one of the most important things I could have learned. Though I still struggle with it sometimes today, focusing too much on why this or that is taking so long, I remember my mentors’ advice and dial back the anxiety before going over the edge. It isn’t always easy, because I do have to track what I’m waiting on, and I need to follow up on it at some point; sometimes, things do get lost in editors’ or agents’ mail or spam filters or desk drawers. But the key is to keep that tracking and waiting in the background and not let it get out of control. Which is exactly what I’m working hard at right now…and succeeding, finally, after a bit of unproductive worrywarting. And as you know, this is an excellent lesson to apply across the board in many other parts of life, as well. Because let’s face it: things don’t always happen exactly when we want or expect them too. See you soon!
