Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Waiting...and Working...and Waiting

My skills in this process are not very good. And here’s the kicker, this waiting thing is not a rest period. Nope, its writing like you did when you finished the baby you’re waiting on. Only now you’re working on a new baby. Maybe struggling with the first line, or maybe just plowing through, knowing you can come back and fix that first line later. In fact the waiting muscles are straining and sometimes they feel the burn and love it and then others their tired and wanting to rest.

You know that climbing a mountain and you are excited to get to the top. You’ve worked hard to do this. Planned each step, brought the necessary items to make it all the way.

And then you’re at the first rest area. There’s this really great boulder to sit on and stare out over the valley below. If you look close enough you’ll see a few tattered pieces of yourself from the pitfalls you encountered along the way.

Suddenly you’re not quite as excited. I mean, heck the view from where you sit isn’t all that bad. People think you’ve done an incredible thing by getting to this point on your mountain, right? Right? Okay, so they do, or they did, and maybe a few still do, but now their looking at you, waiting to see what you’re going to do next.

Will you wait and do nothing but look at the scenery around you? Smell the chocolate roses as it were. Or will you pick up speed, not look back and keep going to the top, even though it means you’re waiting.

Yeah, I’m going to keep going to the top because it has the best view, but I hate waiting.

How about you? Are you good with the waiting thing? Constantly checking emails or snail mail? Or do you forget about it and continue on?

~Vicki

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree with you more V - the waiting is the worst. Now if only I could get to the next first word of the next book. One foot in front of the other as it were. Well if nothing else we have each other to fall back on ;-)
Hang tough - both of us will have to learn patience the hard way.
L

Vicki said...

L - You are the most amzing CP and Plot partner!!!

PatriciaW said...

Not good with waiting. Best remedy? Keep busy. If it's waiting to hear back from an editor/agent, maybe you're ready to start your next writing project. Maybe not. Maybe you want to read or travel or explore some other creative endeavor or, my fave, simply vegetate for a bit. Do whatever helps you not think about the waiting.