Dust cobwebs off the fake plants!
[Check email.]
Play online Bingo Luau!
[Jump when the phone rings.]
Give away old clothes circa 1994!
[Check email. For the 27th time this hour.]
Refill the bird feeders!
[Check answering machine.]
Clear unidentifiable aluminum-foiled bricks out of the freezer!
Yes, such is the glamorous life of a newly-agented writer who hopes to someday soon be a bonafide author.
What’s that you say?
I should be doing something else while I wait for an editor response?
Something like…writing???
Bahhh! What a crazy idea.
Well, what would YOU do?
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 
16 comments
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April 9, 2010 at 11:24 am
Trent Aitken-Smith
Oh man isn’t the phone ringing, the postman delivering letters and the whole concept of e-mail excruciating when you are waiting for replies from publishers and agents.
April 9, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Tricia Idrobo
Gardening is a big temptation this time of year. But eventually writing has to resurface. I have a novel out on submission to agents and am writing some short stories (for magazines) in between.
April 9, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Corey
Ah, I know the feeling well!
April 9, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Karen
Your post made me smile. Here I was picturing you relaxing, still on cloud 9. Didn’t cross my mind that you’d be on the edge of your seat. But, of course, it makes total sense. Hang in there!
April 9, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Kelly Fineman
Writing is the standard advice. Not always possible, however. Getting rid of tinfoil bricks and old clothes sounds brilliant.
April 10, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Judy Palermo
It’s funny, but I wrote like crazy for the first month I was on submission. I knew it would take at least a few weeks to get any responses, and would more likely be a month. And then the holidays would hit, so I knew things would slow down. I found it really, really hard to write in January and February, and am just now getting into the swing of writing and waiting, writing and waiting. I can’t make editors read any faster, but I can write my next book.
Good luck, Tara!
April 11, 2010 at 5:20 pm
tara
Thanks, Judy!
April 11, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Julie
There’s online bingo luau? Cool!
April 11, 2010 at 5:20 pm
tara
Oh, yes. Pogo.com can be a fun time-waster!
April 12, 2010 at 12:59 pm
beckylevine
Pace. Read. Pace. Read. Check email… 🙂
April 13, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Christina Rodriguez
I say go outside, enjoy the weather, plan a fun weekend of non-work-related activities – basically anything that can get you outside your own head. Don’t worry about it!
April 14, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Joanne Fritz
Just wanted to say congrats on getting an agent. I’m one of those people who rarely post on blogs, and I’ve recently cut back on reading blogs so I can have more time to work on my novel, but yours is one blog I still like to peek in on occasionally. In fact, it’s one of the first blogs I discovered.
Really really happy for you. Getting an agent is soooo cool. You can do whatever you want while you wait to hear about submissions. You’ve earned that right.
But when you’re tired of chores, I hope you’ll go back to writing.
My Brain on Books
May 2, 2010 at 11:03 am
Kristin Gray
I’d totally be cleaning out stuff too. It’s always a game of tug of war when I have a few spare minutes. I should really clean out that closet. But I’d rather be writing. Fingers crossed!
May 2, 2010 at 11:44 am
Susanne Drazic
I liked your post. It made me smile. Happy writing!
Susanne Drazic
http://susannedrazic.blogspot.com/
May 3, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Terresa Wellborn
Fun post! I’m with you on tossing out the clothes, circa 1994! I have some buttercup yellow flower pants that are now pushing 20 years old! That really ages me, doesn’t it?? They are straight leg Gap brand, wore ’em in college and man, do I love ’em still!!
Sweet blog, I’ll be back!
September 14, 2010 at 4:28 pm
George Shannon-Author
Hi Tara,
Once upon a time in a publishing world far away, the phone did occasionally ring in just a few days. It did for my first book, LIZARD’S SONG, back in 1979. But times have changed. Big time. So what to do to keep your sanity when you submit a new manuscript? Give yourself a celebratory play-day. Then get busy on a new project. I heard this advice many years ago, and it is valuable for several reasons.
Once we submit a manuscript it is out of our control. Let go! What I can control is daily work on a new project. If the reason I write is because I like to write, then…I will enjoy the writing. I don’t feel good waiting by the phone. I don’t feel good imagining rejection.
There is also a significant side benefit. When I plunge into a new project I begin to fall in love with that new project. I have evidence that my submitted manuscript is not “the end of the game”. Plus, when the news finally comes good or bad I am in a wiser place to deal with it.
If the news is negative, then I can submit it elsewhere knowing that it is not my only creation. If the news is positive and they want revisions, my mind is more open and less defensive because I have moved on to another project. My writing brain is better able to truly make my older manuscript even better.
If the news is positive and they think my manuscript is perfect (I can dream can’t I?), then I can celebrate AND be happy than I have new manuscript growing they might like as a second title down the road.
Best of writing wishes,
George Shannon
http://georgeshannon.wordpress.com