On Waiting

As a freelance and fiction writer, 'waiting for the phone to ring' is a large part of my day-to-day. Granted, if I have work to do, I do it. If I have an idea for a story, I see it through. But once I send a story off to a magazine, or send work to a client, then comes the wait.

Me for the next five weeks as I wait to hear back from Clarion West.

Waiting isn't just idle time. Once a writer builds up a portfolio and client base, there is always something to keep him or her busy. Yet at the same time, waiting for feedback or another work assignment can cause stress. 'Why are they taking so long to get back to me?' 'Will my story get accepted?' 'Did I follow all the instructions?'

et cetera ad infinitum...

I figure these moments of self-doubt and worry are pretty common among people in my line of work. I tend to follow the advice of 'hope for the best, plan for the worst.' And considering the 'worst' diminishes in severity when I put more care into my work, it's really not that bad at all.

But yeah, I'm not a big fan of waiting. Boo waiting.

Note: Within an hour of polishing this post I received feedback on two different projects (and it wasn't bad at all). That's nice. :)