Heading for the Looney Bin

Just Me 2021 · Jun 7, 2007

I am just about to lose my mind waiting to hear back from agents.

Seriously, I have got to find a way to pass the time. Don't tell me to write Book Two, because I AM. My mind is STILL on the agents who are reading my manuscript (some have had it for three months already) and I'm just dying to know: Is it a yes or a no?

How on earth do y'all cope with this insane waiting period??? Every time I get an email or the phone rings, I'm teetering on the brink of madness! Plus I'm eating myself out of house and home.

Help! Tell me I'm not alone. Commiserate with me. And tell those agents to read my dang manuscript before I go commit myself!

joyce · Jun 7, 2007

Hang in there. Today I was feeling depressed about the whole writing thing. I've got a partial out and it seems like it is taking forever to get a response. I just got rejected off a full but I keep resubmitting. I was starting to wonder should I just give this whole thing up, then in the mail came a request of another partial. I'm like you. I check the mail, check my e-mail until I feel like I'm going crazy. It seems as soon as I feel like thowing in the pen, someone wants to see something else. Then I have to play the hurry up and wait game. I'm sure there are many people out there being drove crazy by the whole process.

CaroGirl · Jun 7, 2007

Me too. I'm losing my mind. At this point, I just want to know, one way or another, so I can move on. I wish this business had a shorter waiting period. Maybe all the waiting will be worth it someday. Hang in there!

Just Me 2021 · Jun 7, 2007

It's maddening, isn't it?

As soon as I posted, I got an email in my inbox. Just a rejection on a query (a mere flesh wound), but still... My heart raced as soon as the little "ding" alerted me of the email (I use that account only for communication with agents, so all emails that come in there are significant.) Then there was the let down that it wasn't from an agent who has requested the partial or - even better - from one who is reading the full wanting to talk on the phone. Still, I eagerly opened the correspondence hoping for at least a request for a read and.. it was a rejection.

The highs and lows and just plain waiting, waiting, waiting are killing me!

Thanks for understanding. It's so good to know there are a bunch of writer friends out there feeling the same things I am.

Just Me 2021 · Jun 7, 2007

I just had a thought that cracked me up, so I had to share it.

If anyone ever wanted to mess with my mind, they'd just have to start sending me stupid emails to the one account I use only for agents. I'll bet I could seriously go nuts if the account starting "ding"-ing all day long! LOL!

Just Me 2021 · Jun 7, 2007

Hey CaroGirl,

Me, too. Months of waiting is like a pregnancy term - and you don't knwo if you're going to get to give birth or not.

At this point, I have pretty much queried every agent out there who is legit (and seems decent - i.e. - has sales) and reads my kind of stuff (and is accepting queries.) So I have a number of partials and full ms out there and don't expect to get many more requests off the remaining 20 or so unanswered queries I have floating around out there. So I just want to know - Is it a go or not? Or should I forget about Book One and focus 100% on writing Book Two? I keep TRYING to do that, but I can't really forget the first book until I know if anyone's going to take it!

MidnightMuse · Jun 7, 2007

You're not alone, believe me. I'm waiting to hear back on a partial and I keep telling myself it could be months. After all, it was 3 months between query and request for partial. It could be another 3 months between partial and full (or - gasp - rejection). God help me if it's another 3 months from full to acceptance!

It's been 3 weeks this Saturday, and my brain is still mush.

During weekends, I can distract myself with other things. But during the week, I sit here at work and fuss and fidget.

It's like sitting at the DMV waiting to renew your driver's license - wondering if you're number will be called before they close up for the day.

lkp · Jun 7, 2007

And remember, it was BEA last weekend, and all the agents are behind, frantically catching up.
Yack.

Just Me 2021 · Jun 7, 2007

Oh, yeah.... BEA.... And then it'll be summer, and no one wants to do extra reading in the summer, right? (I'm hoping all the agents who have my stuff are people who love to sit by the pool and read while sipping margaritas - and that this is how my book will be read and of course, embraced, perhaps in partial thanks to the alcohol.)

And I like the DMV analogy - very true.

Ack! The waiting! Save me! Save me! I'm dying from tired-of-waiting disease!

BrookieCookie777 · Jun 7, 2007

I've been there. . . it's like wanting a big bag of jellybeans and someone's already ate everything but the black ones. It stinks - but rest assured - the waiting ends and it feels amazing to say "Hold on - this is my agent - I have to take this call!"

Pisarz · Jun 7, 2007

I pass the time by emailing my writer friends and telling them how downtrodden and apathetic I've become about the state of my novel (which is soon-to-be buried, perhaps along with its author--or at least her desire to write).

And then I cheer my writer friends on so that I can live vicariously through their soon-to-come success!

Just Me 2021 · Jun 7, 2007

Have I mentioned lately that the writers on this forum are the absolute best?

Thanks for the support and company, everybody. Especially you, Pisarz, my Friend. And you, too, will resurrect your manuscript (or perhaps it will be accepted by the mighty J.S. himself without revision!)

Cheers to all and thanks for getting me through an afternoon/evening of near-insanity.

maddythemad · Jun 7, 2007

Let me tell you, when you finally get the email saying that an agent wants to represent you, you'll be so glad you stuck it out and kept querying. And in the mean time, don't get mad when you get a rejection, but just think, "Aw, poor agent is clearly bonkers."

And don't be in too much of a hurry... once you get an agent (and you will!), you'll have near-heart attacks every time the phone rings, worrying an editor is rejecting you.

~ Maddy, who is probably not being too helpful

Stijn Hommes · Jun 8, 2007

You're not alone. I've been fretting for 18 days and I'm already on the brink of madness despite working on my next piece of fiction. The funny thing is that I'm waiting on a response for a short story, so my waiting period isn't even as long as yours...

Astro · Jun 8, 2007

I too am tired of chewing my nails and riding the waiting rollercoaster. Some days it feels like the agents enjoy the tease. I had one agent tell me she'd have word by the days end (4 weeks ago) and then others request partials in a matter of an hour, fulls less than 5 hours then NOTHING. It messes with my head- like' They loved the query, loved the first three but I must have lost them after that. There's just no enthusiasm and love for me anymore BooHOO!(this after only a week of waiting)'
Forget going slowly insane. Waiting sends me there Quickly! Oh and I am still working on a new novel too. Doesn't help much!

David McAfee · Jun 8, 2007

Gotta go with maddy on this one. The wait for an agent can be excruciating, but it's sooooo worth it when one of them finally says yes.

BUT...

Then the waiting for editors begins. What fun! I've been waiting over eight weeks. I think maprilynne has been waiting for...11? 12, now? I dunno. I've chewed my fingernails down so far I got a taste of bone marrow yesterday. I keep watching my email and checking my phone.

Waiting, per McAfee's New Advanced Thesaurus, is another synonym for Writing.

P.S. The looney bin can be nice. They have these great "Hug Me" jackets there and bouncy-bouncy wallpaper. Fun!

CaroGirl · Jun 8, 2007

David McAfee said:
I've chewed my fingernails down so far I got a taste of bone marrow yesterday.

Okay, ew.

ink wench · Jun 8, 2007

And this would be why I'm procrastinating. I still shudder when I come home from work and see a pile of white envelopes below the mail slot. So far as I know, nothing helped the anxiety.

Look on the bright side, I suppose. If you lose your mind, maybe you won't care about rejection? Or maybe you'll lose touch with reality so completely that you'll believe you got published and you'll spend the rest of your life happy (insanely happy, of course).

Just Me 2021 · Jun 8, 2007

You guys are great. I'm glad to be in waiting-for-agents-to-respond (or editors - higher stakes even) Hell with you. Misery does love company (even those with fingernails chewed down to nothing.)

Sending hopeful vibes out to all of you...

MidnightMuse · Jun 8, 2007

David McAfee said:
P.S. The looney bin can be nice. They have these great "Hug Me" jackets there and bouncy-bouncy wallpaper. Fun!

This is a good point - you can have a lot of fun with that wallpaper.

clara bow · Jun 8, 2007

I am in this boat, too. After over a year of querying on my current book, I'm on the last agent I queried who now has the full. Three weeks ago i nudged him, and he emailed to say he'd read it over the weekend. Did I mention that was three weeks ago? I am afraid I'm going to have to shelve this project, which I dearly love.

In order to cope, I obsessively check my email and engage in "he loves me, he loves me not" doublethink. I'm working on my WIP and stuffing it with as much sex as possible so that I am sure to snag an agent on the next round. I will be totally ticked off, though, if I get an agent for a cheesier book that took me less time to write than the more complex, layered one I tried to shop this past year. I'm almost looking forward to the experiment.

Almost.

Anyway, just try to distract yourself once in a while. Go see a movie, go to the park and just sit out in the sun (or some lovely shade). Take a day trip. *Something*.

Otherwise, I hear Arkham is nice this time of year!!

RitrChick · Jun 8, 2007

Oh girl, you know I am right there with you. Thank Dog we have each other. Seriously. If I didn't have your feedback, support and encouragement, and if I didn't know that there are so many of us in the same boat...like I said before...rehab with Ms. Spears. Or a jail cell with Ms. Hilton. You can expect to see me in one of these places soon if I don't hear something soon! :Wha:

Susan B · Jun 8, 2007

Boy, I know the feeling!

A week ago I sent out the full manuscript of my memoir to 2 publishers who read the proposal and are seriously interested. First time I/my agent have gotten this far.

I actually found is easier to wait out agents, as opposed to "interested publishers." With the agent search, seems you are constantly sending out queries, responding to requests for more, sending out more queries till you succeed. You keep busy--and you get quicker responses, or maybe no response.

But publishers can take forever.

I'm already worrying about the 11 day vacation we are taking with my in-laws in a month. Worried about internet access, if our cell phones will work. (It's an Alaska cruise.) How tacky it would be if I keep checking e-mails every hour ;-)

Susan

stormie · Jun 8, 2007

If a writer lands in a mental health facility, I think writer's should get preferential treatment. Meds to raise the anxiety threshold, someone to screen all emails and only show the postive ones, pretend book signings every day (to stroke our poor, deflated egos), tons of chocolate, and praise for everything positive (like not bashing our heads into the cinder block walls).

Oh, and a shot of schnapps over ice in the evening.

Maprilynne · Jun 8, 2007

Just Me 2021 said:
Me, too. Months of waiting is like a pregnancy term - and you don't knwo if you're going to get to give birth or not.

Hehe, that just struck me as being really, really funny. I'm almost eight and a half months pregnant, I'm waiting to hear back from editor submissions (6), and after next week I will be waiting to hear what my agent thinks of my new book.

So yeah, it's all very similar.

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