Things To Do While Waiting To Hear Back From an Agent

In Richard Westall's Sword of Damocles, 1812, ...

Richard Westall’s Sword of Damocles, 1812. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At one point in Shard & Shield, a character is waiting for his treason to be discovered. He knows it is only a matter of time before he is identified, seized, tortured, and executed, but in the meantime he must go about his daily business as if nothing is wrong, as if he fears nothing, as if his entire world does not hang by a Damoclean thread.

I might have researched and prepared for writing such a state by sending off a manuscript for consideration.

In fact, Shard & Shield is with an agent right now, and I’m pretending not to mind waiting. And I’m not, really. I mean, I have so much to keep me busy, right? I could hardly take time to wonder, yes? I mean, look at everything someone waiting to hear back could be doing….

  • work on Kitsune-Mochi
  • check email
  • work on Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out
  • check voicemail
  • do pushups
  • make cookies for one’s critique group
  • read old writing projects and laugh at self
  • play with the dogs
  • work on Kitsune-Mochi
  • watch a classic movie at the Historic Artcraft Theatre or other local artsy spot
  • read old writing projects and wonder if they could be salvaged
  • teach a Thriller workshop at the library
  • write a really geeky blog post
  • work on Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out
  • think about the myriad gifts of rejection letters (I kind of like the rejection-letters-as-jewelry idea, though beads aren’t my thing)
  • play on Twitter
  • remind self that I’m already in the top 20% by sales this year (“See? I’m good enough! And people like me!”)
  • develop cold fusion
  • play some Pathfinder (I’m new, but it’s fun!)
  • marvel at the ridiculous
  • clean house Just kidding. It’s never that desperate.

Remember the man waiting for his treason to be discovered? He muses that almost, he wishes the agony of waiting were over, just for the finality of it — but not quite, of course.

Maybe he also courted an agent.

What did I forget?

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5 Comments

  1. You forgot that some clown rejecting your work isn’t the same as execution.

    • /laugh/ Of course. Was going for the hyper-dramatic.

      I’m actually feeling pretty good — not because I necessarily think this agent will want to rep it, but because I’m happy with how the process has gone thus far, and because I do have plans to further improve this story, and because I am working on other things. Maybe I will wallow in a pool of tears and dark chocolate if he says no (again, a wee bit dramatic), but I know I have plans beyond that, if it should happen.

      That doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally wonder, though. Weeks or months is a long time for limbo.

  2. Now I want to read this story! I love this sort of situation. Yes, it’s possible I’m something of a sadist. *G*

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