Have you ever noticed that
WrITING
and
WaITING
differ by only one letter?
Perhaps it's because they are so closely intertwined - no matter what stage you are at in your writing journey you are waiting.
Writing? You're waiting to hear back from betas.
Querying? Waiting to hear back from an agent.
Agented? Waiting on submissions.
Sold your book? Waiting on publication.
Published? Waiting on reviews.
Here are a couple of fun things to do while waiting, things that will give you a fun inside peek at the publishing industry:
Read The School Story by Andrew Clements: Don't mess with Zee Zee Reisman from the Sherry Clutch Literary Agency. Especially when she's promoting the hot new novelist Cassandra Day. New York's publishing scene is impressed by the book she's pushing... but stunned when they find out Zee Zee and Cassandra are both 12-year-old girls. Zee Zee is really Zoe, best friend to Natalie Nelson, a.k.a. Cassandra Day. When Natalie writes a story, a really good story, Zoe is determined to let the whole world know. The catch? The editor Natalie wants happens to be her own mother, an editor at Shipley Junior Books. (Description from Amazon.)Watch the movie Julie and Julia (or read the book!): Julie and Julia is not only about the publishing of Julia Child's famous cookbook, but about how blogging landed an author a major book/movie deal.
What do you do while waiting?
46 comments:
Great post Suzette, thanks for sharing!
Julie & Julia actually inspired me to start blogging so yay (I think) for that. Also my aunt (who I don't care for) plays the third lady in the book writing trio with Julia Child and her friend. The character got snubbed so yay for that too.
Now I'll have to go check out THE SCHOOL STORY too.
Eat Hotheads...and sweat. No really, basically I keep writing and plugging away. Thanks for pointing out the difference between writing and waiting. Nice observation.
As long as I write while I wait, I stay really optimistic, because I know that what I am working on is better than what I wrote before (At least I tell myself (that!).
LOL. I didn't realize the writing/waiting thing until you pointed it out.
Waiting's never bothered me. As a drug rep, I spent a lot of time waiting. Basically I got paid for standing around like an idiot, waiting to even smile at a physician. Geez, to think of all the novels I could have written in that time. ;)
Oh, thanks for the book recommend - I really like Andrew Clements.
And yes they may only be a letter off each other, but for me at least, they ARE the same word. ;)
As I sit here and wait. And wait. And wait...
Great post.
What do I do while waiting? I write.
Well, a little daydreaming while you wait is always fun, but the best way to pass the time is to keep plugging away at something else!
I'll quote from my favorite movie "Princess Bride"
I hate waiting.
I had never noticed, but you are SO right! Always waiting. What a fun way to look at it. It's amazing how one letter can change the meaning of a word so much.
Thanks!
While waiting I go quietly insane and try to work on something else.
Great post. Plus, like Kim, I never noticed that either. Duh I'm slow. heehee.
What do I do while waiting? Write and blog and check my email or crit group page lots. lol.
Waiting is one of the things I didn't really know would be part of the writing process when I first started. Funny how we put ourselves in that position. Patience really is a virtue!
Ha! I posted about waiting last night- I'm not a fan!
http://hatshepsutnovel.blogspot.com/2010/04/patience-how-i-crave-thee.html
I'm pushing my through the first draft of Book #2. That I can control! Mwahahaha!
Ha! I posted about waiting last night- I'm not a fan!
http://hatshepsutnovel.blogspot.com/2010/04/patience-how-i-crave-thee.html
I'm pushing my through the first draft of Book #2. That I can control! Mwahahaha!
Julie & Julia was such an inspirational movie - I loved seeing Julia Child's path to publication as well!
I never noticed that one letter difference in those two words, but I sure can appreciate it now that you've pointed it out!
Most of my waiting is on me. I'm the one who's behind. Sad but true. I'm trying to get better but sometimes I get so overwhelmed I just curl into a ball and watch a movie. True story.
Fun, fun post! I never noticed the one letter difference before, but you are oh-so-right!! :-)
Clever work in connecting "waiting" and "writing." I think I am adept at waiting, and can think of a million things to do--some time wasters like paper airplane making to better spent time volunteering.
I write while trying to not to think about what I'm waiting on...but it's not easy!
The waiting...Ugh...
I just bite my nails and down Pepcid.
Ahhhhh! This is beyond true.
I try to write while I'm waiting. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I just need to go to lunch. :)
Oh so true. The writing in and of itself seems to make all the waiting easier to take though.
Great suggestions. I usually pass the waiting time by working on a new project.
OMG, I had a similar post on my blog today. To answer your question, I spend more time with my kids, play the oboe, knit or crochet, read more (currently The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas).
Thanks for sharing!
HA! Love this post. Me...I am living the waiting game of late...so am reading, writing, whining, and yeah...trying not to refresh the inbox every 30 seconds.
One more thing I do while I wait... okay, two more...
Bake
Clean house
Seriously. Nothing like eating hot-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies to help with the waiting! And a good, vigorous house-cleaning always helps!
The only way I can deal with the waiting is by writing.
I have my good writing days, but never good waiting days!
Great post. There's only one way to make time pass more quickly while waiting, and that's to write. So, I can see why these two words go hand in hand.
I'm waiting on partials, so I started a new novel ;)
Since I've started offering book reviews on my blog, I'm usually reading if I'm not writing. I stay hip deep in books and I love it!
Wonderful post gals, you have an award over at my place :D
I've never heard of that first book but what an excellent idea! How cute is that?
I've yet to see Julie and Julia but I hear great things. I'll have to watch/read it!
I enjoy Clements' books - haven't read that one yet. And I'm dying to see Julie & Julia - it'll probably have to wait until summer.
I feel like I'm always waiting for something too :)
I so loved the movie "Julie and Julia"!! And it was awesome how her blog turned into a book! What a great story!
I read a lot while I'm waiting, definitely. And listen to a lot of music...and buy too much of it on iTunes. lol
Loved Julie and Julia!! Though I have to say...I was bummed a little about the ending. (Didn't want to go into details and spoil it for your readers!!)
Did you also notice how similar *writing* is to *writhing*?
That kiind of agony can happen while you're writing or waiting!
I write some more, play with my kids, travel, shop, and read.
But I like to see movies, and sometimes I do. I should check out Julie and Julia. I really want to see that one. Thanks for the recommendation.
wRiting and wAiting - never noticed that before!
Read Julia Child's memoir, My Life in France. That's a story about waiting! Julie Powell's book deal was a walk in the park compared with that. The movie doesn't do Julia Child's journey justice.
I blogged about the memoir, you want to take a look:
http://theresamilstein.blogspot.com/2009/11/mastering.html
We can all be inspired by her perseverance.
So. Freakin. True. *sigh* I'm trying to train myself to wait without thinking about it. I've not submitted to agents yet, but I'm waiting on critiques from a couple of contests I won, so I'm pretending to not worry about it and just keep writing. Also, I have a towering To-Be-Read pile that keeps me pretty occupied :D Great post!
Very cool observation! My daughter noticed something I've never noticed before...July, August, September, October and November make up the acronym JASON...I know that has nothing to do with your post, but I thought it was an interesting observation.
We do seem to wait a lot. :) Isn't there a saying? "Good things come to those who wait."
Ha! Never noticed that :D And LOVED Julie and Julia...though I almost cried with envy at the end when her phone started ringing with offers from agents and publishers that she never had to contact LOL
I like to write while I'm waiting. I find immersing in a new project takes some of the angst out of waiting on an old one :)
I write when I'm waiting and the that starts the whole cyle again. lol. (or it will, when I finish the WIP)
Other things to do? Swim, shoot baskets. Eat popcorn and chocolate. Hence the need to shoot baskets and swim. See, it's all a vicious circle. ;-)
You forgot all the mini waiting periods w/in the "sold your book" category.
waiting for the editor to contact you
waiting for the actual edits
waiting for response to that
waiting for next round of edits
I've never thought how the words are so similar .. you are so clever.
I love that! Writing is a world of hurry up and wait, isn't it?
WaITING/WrITING ... that explains a lot! :-)
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