Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Wait

It has three legs, a thousand eyes, breathes fire, and has a poisonous tail.

Okay, maybe that's just how I see it, but the wait really is monstrous. The wait is that period of time after submitting a manuscript to a publisher/agent and waiting for a reply.


                               

                                              Maybe you see 'The Wait' as more like this.

Now, granted, the wait is actually not as bad as it used to be. Think about the times when they used horse post and simultaneous submissions were not allowed. You could wait a decade before getting a contract in those days.

But still, the wait is extraordinarily agonizing. Within a week, doubts will start plaguing your mind. As a matter of fact, my first rejections came within a few weeks.

Maybe it just has to do with the fact that there are so many writers these days, and it is just so easy to write and send a book using MS Word and e-mail. That's why there are hundreds of submissions, which make the waiting period just that much longer, and subsequently much harder to notice.

Of course, people do get published from the slush pile and do get agents, provided their work really is good. But the thing is, your mind will continue asking questions 'Was it good enough?' to you while you're waiting. And if all you get are rejections at the end, though that's perfectly normal, it certainly doesn't make you feel any better. 

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