A first, it wasn't so bad...
As everyone who suffers through my continual yammering about the progress on my novel, The Sword of the Patron, already knows, my book is currently sitting on the desk of the second agent I've queried about it. The wait for a response from the first agent wasn't so bad, but I credit that to the fact that for the 5 weeks it took the response to come, I was insanely busy, so I didn't have time to hover over my email like a hungry seagull at a picnic on the beach.
This time, life is relatively calm, and I'm finding the wait much harder to endure. I'm questioning everything. Should I really have gone the route of querying agents on my first-ever novel? Or should I have gone with smaller presses, waiting until I have a book in print with decent sales numbers before I bother the big guys? Or am I deluded that it would be any easier to get through the gate of a small press than it is to catch the attention of an agent? Should I have entered some contests, like ACFW's Genesis contest instead? Should I have my book on Authonomy.com? (This isn't off the table...I'm debating this, in an effort to generate some buzz while I'm waiting. I'm fully aware that could backfire, though.)
I've never been good at waiting, so this process, while agonizing, is also instructive. I hope that through it all, my character will be refined, however slightly. Will learning how to wait on agents make me more patient with my children? (I wish.)
One this is certain: remaining idle while waiting is a very bad idea. I'm thankful that I have my serial fiction to work on, illustrations to continue to chip away at for Tony Lavoie's Many Stops to Make, and my family to offer me more than enough to do in the meantime. One day at a time, one query after another, I am determined to find a publisher for this book, and hopefully it's subsequent members of the series. Only the prayerful request for the Lord to steady me as I wait will provide the firm foundation I'll need to weather this journey, that I know.
This time, life is relatively calm, and I'm finding the wait much harder to endure. I'm questioning everything. Should I really have gone the route of querying agents on my first-ever novel? Or should I have gone with smaller presses, waiting until I have a book in print with decent sales numbers before I bother the big guys? Or am I deluded that it would be any easier to get through the gate of a small press than it is to catch the attention of an agent? Should I have entered some contests, like ACFW's Genesis contest instead? Should I have my book on Authonomy.com? (This isn't off the table...I'm debating this, in an effort to generate some buzz while I'm waiting. I'm fully aware that could backfire, though.)
I've never been good at waiting, so this process, while agonizing, is also instructive. I hope that through it all, my character will be refined, however slightly. Will learning how to wait on agents make me more patient with my children? (I wish.)
One this is certain: remaining idle while waiting is a very bad idea. I'm thankful that I have my serial fiction to work on, illustrations to continue to chip away at for Tony Lavoie's Many Stops to Make, and my family to offer me more than enough to do in the meantime. One day at a time, one query after another, I am determined to find a publisher for this book, and hopefully it's subsequent members of the series. Only the prayerful request for the Lord to steady me as I wait will provide the firm foundation I'll need to weather this journey, that I know.
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