Waiting for the...

It's been said many times that writing is like dating. You create this perfect date scenario (your manuscript) then you have to ask the other person (agent or editor) and see if they're as into you as you are them. The part people don't talk about as much is the relationship after you finally hook up.

Once you're dating, there's still usually one person who does most of the "calling" while the other waits for the phone to ring. In all fairness, when dating, you tend to have a pretty good idea when the caller should be contacting you because (assuming they care about you), they'll say. You know, as you part ways before getting on the bus or as one of you ducks into after school practice, the caller will say something like, "I'll call after dinner." Unlike the delay after the initial asking out, this one has a timeline.

But that doesn't always make the waiting easier.

I work with a few editors now--people I like a lot. (Er... I mean that in a non-creeper, only-slightly-internet-stalkerish kind of way.) In addition, I have uber-betas-of-awesome whom I love and adore. But right now, I'm waiting on "calls" (emails really, but the point is the same) from all of them. One I know I won't get for a few weeks, so that's peachy and keeps me from frantic hair-pulling. The others I should hear from this week (and might have by the time this post goes live). I'm to the point that I'm getting more than a little twitchy about getting back to work on something. I mean, we're talking five projects that are currently on hold. I can't start another one. I just can't. Okay, really I shouldn't, mainly because it would be a bad idea to get my mind hooked on something new this summer.

So, I'm waiting. And I'm only a tinge worried that they're all going to call and try to set up dates for the same day. Because as fun as that might be in an actual dating scenario, I'm not sure how well I could survive it writing-wise. So... yeah. Once you're already in with editors, you still wait on the "phone to ring." The good part is, usually you have a decent idea what at least some of those calls will involve. The bad part... well, unless they all come at once (in which case, learn time management in a hurry), there really is no bad part.

And that is the best thing about loving what you do :)