Thursday 8 April 2010

Erm... Maisey? HELP!

My send finger is twitching!

How do you all do it? I seriously need to cultivate some patience, I am compulsively checking my inbox for a response about my partial, or else I am wondering if it's too soon to check again after the last time!

It's only been a laughable 8 days!!!! And four of those were frickin holiday days!!

Note to self:- GET A GRIP.

Cyber slaps required please, & distraction suggestions too. I am thinking chocolate & vodka? And write, write, write. Even that is loads harder with the kids at home though, and they are off for another eleven days.

It's too early for wine here, so am going to eat my own weight in chocolate over the course of the afternoon - and that would be no mean feat, let me tell ya!!

18 comments:

  1. I eat my bodyweight in chocolate on a regular basis - it's called therapy so go for it girl! I'm waiting for feedback too. I sent my three chapters and synopsis in after the medical pitch and I've heard nothing. What's worse, one of the other pitchers who sent her stuff in on the same day has heard back, an email glowing with praise and asking for a full. I take it the editor hated mine.....back to the chocolate then!

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  2. Joanne - DON'T do it! At least give it a month! I know I hear you gulp - a MONTH? - but those eds are really busy!! They won't forget you... not when you wrote such a fabulous entry to the contest!

    Susan - hang in there. If I've learnt one thing in the last few years in this game, it's never second guess what a wait means or what an ed will say! Good luck with your sub :)

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  3. Hi Susan :o)
    Glad to hear someone else turns to chocolate in a crisis! Eugh, I hear you about wondering what the wait means. I said as much to my H this morning ( whilst moaning on the phone in between checking emails) - he placated me by saying he reckons that a very speedy reply would be more likely to be a no... it takes longer to compose a revisions request? or maybe they are just super busy? I'm sure they are of course, and WHO KNOWS what a longer wait means against a shorter wait really? And then it depends who the ed is as some are probably more inundated than others...Crossing my fingers for good news for you anyhow. How long has it been for you now?

    Hey Rach! Thank you for the pep talk, you are of course completely right, i'll give it a month ( just checking the calender to see where that takes me too, lol). And thanks for the encouragement re my comp entry, I'll keep rereading your comment when my finger gets itchy. x

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  4. Since 24 March! Now I sound completely pathetic - best get the chocolate out!

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  5. Put the send finger down, Joanne. You don't wanna do this...

    First off, if it makes you feel any better, I emailed my ed three days ago and I didn't get a response. Why? Cuz they iz supah busy over there at the moment. :-)

    Also, someone once told me that one of the eds may be working with 20-30 pubbed authors (staggered) at any given time, not to mention the unpubbed authors. And then there's ALWAYS things going on over there. Marketing meetings, acquisitions meetings, big changes, lunches wherein they all where fabulous shoes...(jealous? Me? Heckyeah.)

    But lots and lots of this business is waiting. And waiting. And waiting again. But the real trick is what we do in the wait times. Always keep writing. Write the next masterpiece. Keep learning and growing on your own.

    I had massive waits on my first sub. But you got to skip the big bad slush pile, yay you. Seven months I waited there with NO response.

    So it can be done! Above all, remember, this is like one big long job interview. Inquiries at the right time show interest, and that's a good thing...too many...well, you want to look like a pro. Like you know the waits can be a lot and you're prepared to do it.

    I have faith in you. Stop by my site and whine if you need to. :-)

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  6. Joanne, yeah,the wait is a killer. I sent mine in January which has been difficult. Apparently the done thing is to wait until at least 12 weeks (though some suggest waiting until 16) which I did and then emailed her. Some would say I jumped the gun. ;-)
    Anyway, don't worry, they're not going to forget you. The best remedy is what Maisey says - write and write and write. That's why I've got two completed mss in the time I've been waiting. It's certainly the best way I know of to stop checking the Inbox of Doom. ;-)
    Oh and whining helps too. I do a lot of that. Lol!

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  7. Maisey, you are the wonderful & wise Goddess of sage advice - THANK YOU. You're right (of course), I'm going to sit on my hands and wait it out. Avoiding the slush pile already makes me ridiculously lucky, I need to remember that.
    One long interview... I like that perspective, thinking if it that way makes e-mailing them a STOOPID move. :o)
    I'll just keep writing so i'm ready when that email pings in.... cheers chicken! I'm glad I yelled out to you across the cyber miles. xx

    Jackie, I am going to draw my inspiration from you and write write write, although I don't have a hope in hell of being anywhere near as productive on the word count front. 2 completed mss this year so far? wow!

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  8. Oh definitely write some more while you wait. Although, I'm afraid when it's my turn to wait I'll be absolutely hopeless. I've never been a patient person.

    Think of it this way--when you were pregnant, it seemed like the longest wait ever but you didn't want your baby to be born early because otherwise it wouldn't be ready. Sort of what your DH said--you don't want a quick response because that is usually a 'no', because they are much easier to fashion than revisions :-)

    Hmm, I have discovered I warble when blog commenting in an evening, sorry!!

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  9. Goddess, eh? Could I get that in writing and present it to the hubby next time he thinks I ought to cook dinner?

    LOL. Glad it helped. I find thinking in terms of job interviews and professionalism always helps me. :-) Glad it made sense to you, since I often don't make much sense...

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  10. Umm nothing more to add except waiting sucks. Like Maisey I went throught the slush pile (and hoping like mad, that my story ends up like Miasey's).

    Hang in there - we all know EXACTLY how you feel!

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  11. Just to reassure you Joanne, that even after 57 books - I still have to wait . . .and wait . . .for responses to anything and everything. It's part of the job . (Hmm - come to think of it, that's not exactly a reassurance, is it?) Yes, editors have up to 30 or so other authors -then there's the slush pile - and marketing meetings - and acquisition meetings - and conferences - and publicity talks . .. And editor's work is never donw.

    But I'd seriously advise you to remember that in this game professional politeness is vital - and part of that professional politeness is not pestering your editor. You only have this one ms to worry about - and editor has dozens - the ones to read, the ones read and to be scheduled, the scheduled and their art work/blurbs/promos/the copy-edits/the page proofs. . .

    Nothing happens fast in publishing - so as Maisey says, what matters is what you do with the time you have to wait. USe it - really, honestly, you won;t have this sort of in between leisure and 'playing' time if (when) you're bought - then you'll be on dreadlines and you'll have to write even when you've no inspiration.

    So 'grow the seeds' of your writing imagination now - write, plan, think of ideas, read, see films, watch TV - anything that will fill thewell of imaginaton - it will srve you in good stead for the future. I just wish I had that time right now! Ask any published author with a bunch of dreadlines ahead of them.

    Your editor will get back to you as quickly as she can but her emphasis must always be on the books she has to get into the schedule.

    Better get used to the waiting! It's part of the job!

    Good luck with the submission

    Kate

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  12. Hi Joanne :o)
    I love the pregnancy analogy! Somethings just can't (and shouldn't) be rushed, I'm swiftly learning that this is one of those somethings. x

    Hey Janette, thank you! x

    Hi Kate,
    Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to reply. Your advice is brilliant, and is being taken to heart. Thanks x

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  13. Hi Joanne,

    I love your polka dots, and to keep you busy for a few minutes why not accept a Beautiful Blogger Award and answer 5 major questions and five sub ?s per major.

    Feel free to copy/paste image and join in the "Fun Questions". See Beautiful Blogger Award Page on my blog!

    best

    F

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  14. aw, thank you Francine! That's made my day. x

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  15. Send the WHERE IS MY RESPONSE email to yourself, if you really must write one. Write it, and send it to yourself. Or create an alter-ego editor address - i.e. sloweditor@mymanuscriptheaven.com - and send all those frantic queries there. Just DON'T send them to Harlequin, lol, or wherever you're subbing.

    I run a lit mag, and one woman emailed me with a change to her sub, not once, but FIVE times in one day. I only check my mail for that mag once a day, so I got them all at once, saying things like 'Sorry, did you get my email ten minutes ago?' then, about half an hour later, 'Sorry, you didn't reply, perhaps it went in the spam filter, can you please confirm receipt?' and then 'Okay, it's been an hour now since I emailed you, and no reply yet. I'm really worried. Do you have a phone number? Please call me, this is my phone number at work etc.' and so it went on ...

    I made a mental note to avoid accepting anything from her ever again.

    Just thought I'd mention that, lol.

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  16. Oh my, Jane! That is an excellent story to remind us all the chill the heck out!

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  17. Hi Joanne, sending some cyberchocs in your direction. I hope you get a good response back when it comes (and manage to survive the school holidays!). Take care,

    Lorraine

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  18. lol Thanks Jane, i'm def sitting this one out in that case!

    Thanks for the chocs Lorraine, rec'd with gratitude - and greed! :o)

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