Pages

Monday 28 September 2009

Patience

If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. ~Senegalese Proverb

I’ve been waiting for the past month to hear about a submission. Not patiently waiting, but waiting. What else can you do? It made me remember an article I once wrote for a local adoption magazine on the subject of ‘patience’. It’s something you need in large quantities when you’re adopting, at least in Australia. That got me to thinking about the similarities between creating and submitting a piece of writing and adopting a child.

First, you get the idea. You think about it a bit, research what you don’t know, attend a few workshops maybe, then do the paperwork. Then you have someone go over things to make sure they’re absolutely perfect and you send it off and wait, while someone out there decides if you have reached the next stage. If you’re lucky you progress through the stages, getting closer and closer to your dream until one day you get the news – either, ‘yes, you have successfully jumped through all the hoops’ or ‘sorry, but your hoop-jumping isn’t quite what we need.’

If the answer is ‘yes’, then one day you’ll hold your ‘baby’ in your hands. It’s when it’s ‘no’ that the difference between writing and adoption occurs. With a book, you can try another publisher, but here in Australia if they say ‘no’ there’s nowhere else to turn. There’s only one chance. You can jump up and down and scream a bit, but the sad fact is it probably won’t work.

It makes me feel a little better about the waiting on a submission.

But I’m still not enjoying it!

6 comments:

Luc2 said...

I once likened writing a story to childbirth, and this reminds me of it.

Many good things in live require much effort. It helps to deepen the sense of satisfaction.

But I can imagine how hard it is to wait on this.

Kate said...

True, Luc. The best things take a while. We waited 3 years for Dynamo and 2 years for Sausage (after waiting 4 years before we had Eldest) so I figure I can probably survive this wait too.

Rena Jones said...

Waiting is hard. It's even harder when you think you've researched and found the perfect publisher only for them to turn you down, like with my last effort.

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you hear something new.

Kate said...

Thanks, Rena. This wait is hard because I have actually got through a few of the steps with this one, but the next answer will either be the best news or back to square one.
My hands are sore - must be all the thumb-twiddling.

Goldie Jell said...

Hullo, Kate - thanks for your well wishes for our writing group's anthology. I hope it does well too. The competition is pretty stiff out there and I'm just happy to see my story in print and have the satisfaction of knowing that our group has actually acheived this book.

Your group's idea of putting your stories on a CD is a great idea. I agree it would be scary. Hope it goes well for your group too.

The very best of good wishes for your submission. I hope the answer when it comes is a big 'yes'. They say patience is rewarded so hope it is this time.

I like this post. What you say is true.

Goldie Jell said...

Hullo again, Kate - I forgot to say I love your new look blog.