Ode to Anxiety: I've gotten an agent and now I'm REALLY freaking out

Morrigan · Oct 12, 2008

I've totally blundered into the world of writing and I've been incredibly lucky and ridiculously neurotic about working my brain to the medulla oblongata. Anyway, I've gotten an agent, the book is "out" to publishers and I'm at the stage where I am supposed to wait patiently to see if anyone buys. HA!!! If I thought I was anxiety ridden and CRAZY before I've now entered the realms of the proverbial bat poop. Seriously, I'm wigging. I just wondered if there were other people out there who could share with me their stories of the "after the agent" period when they're supposed to be writing their sequels but are actually spending most of their time PALPITATING. I am taking fish oil because I think I'm one missed phone call away from a serious coronary.

And I write uber-commercial comic urban fantasy with a strong romantic element. That is, I write them until I DIE OF ANXIETY.

Danalynn · Oct 12, 2008

All I can say to this is I SO WISH I was having the same problem!

:ROFL:

(at least the part about having an agent and waiting for a publisher to buy my novel, anyway . . . you can totally keep the anxiety part. tee hee)

WELCOME to AW, by the way!

:welcome:

You've just joined THE bestest website in the entire universe!

Karen Duvall · Oct 12, 2008

I share your grief. I, too, write urban fantasy and got my agent in May. It took a couple of months to work through revisions, then she started submitting my manuscript to publishers in September. So far we've had one rejection, the others are still reading, and according to her they're "enthusiastic." But it seems like it's taking forever! Gah! But I'm focusing on my WIP because I know publishing is sloooooow to make decisions. Still, I'm craving news, but all I'm hearing are crickets. So I completely sympathize with what you're going through.

We're not the only ones in wait mode. Join the rest of us in purgatory as we wait for word of one kind or another. Some are still querying, some are like us waiting for our agents to give us news of a bidding war (ha!), and some just got their first publishing contracts and are dealing with revisions. We're quite a bunch, but we keep each other company and lend each other support. I think you'll like it there.

Darzian · Oct 12, 2008

If not for AW, I doubt I'd be writing right now.

This site is hugely helpful, and good luck with your submissions! At least you have an agent! Be sure to let us know on updates.

(Hmmm...I think I'd best stop welcoming people in the newbie forum. I've just realized that my avatar (who is also called 'avatar' btw) may be a potential turn off to any happy welcoming message I write....)

Bartholomew · Oct 13, 2008

Darzian said:
If not for AW, I doubt I'd be writing right now.

This site is hugely helpful, and good luck with your submissions! At least you have an agent! Be sure to let us know on updates.

(Hmmm...I think I'd best stop welcoming people in the newbie forum. I've just realized that my avatar (who is also called 'avatar' btw) may be a potential turn off to any happy welcoming message I write....)

Why? Everyone loves the Avatar. Except the fire nation. (Boo! Fire nation!)

Darzian · Oct 13, 2008

Lol, Everyone seems to be watching avatar these days.

I'm generally very very very very very impatient. The querying stage is just going to kill me. I'm sure of it.

Deccydiva · Oct 13, 2008

Be grateful, many of us are not that far advanced yet! Some of us may never get an Agent, are living below the poverty line and have far more basic things to worry about. Like eating and staying warm...
:Hug2:

to all in that situation...

Ray Veen · Oct 13, 2008

Can I ask how you "blundered" into the world of writing? And in what way you've been "extraordinarily lucky"?

Sounds like a wild story.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

Dana-Lynn said:
All I can say to this is I SO WISH I was having the same problem!

(at least the part about having an agent and waiting for a publisher to buy my novel, anyway . . . you can totally keep the anxiety part. tee hee)

WELCOME to AW, by the way!

You've just joined THE bestest website in the entire universe!

Thank you so much! I appreciate the welcome. I am really, really glad I joined. I know very few writers and, as I've said, this is all very new to me so it's so nice to talk to people who have been through/are going through the same things. I think it's going to be really helpful.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

Karen Duvall said:
I share your grief. I, too, write urban fantasy and got my agent in May. It took a couple of months to work through revisions, then she started submitting my manuscript to publishers in September. So far we've had one rejection, the others are still reading, and according to her they're "enthusiastic." But it seems like it's taking forever! Gah! But I'm focusing on my WIP because I know publishing is sloooooow to make decisions. Still, I'm craving news, but all I'm hearing are crickets. So I completely sympathize with what you're going through.

We're not the only ones in wait mode. Join the rest of us in purgatory as we wait for word of one kind or another. Some are still querying, some are like us waiting for our agents to give us news of a bidding war (ha!), and some just got their first publishing contracts and are dealing with revisions. We're quite a bunch, but we keep each other company and lend each other support. I think you'll like it there.

On my way to purgatory now! That sounds perfect. Thanks so much for the tip. We sound like we're in very similar situations with dates and everything. I, too, am slogging away at my sequel and it keeps me sane. Barely.

I'll see you in pugatory?

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

Darzian said:
If not for AW, I doubt I'd be writing right now.

This site is hugely helpful, and good luck with your submissions! At least you have an agent! Be sure to let us know on updates.

(Hmmm...I think I'd best stop welcoming people in the newbie forum. I've just realized that my avatar (who is also called 'avatar' btw) may be a potential turn off to any happy welcoming message I write....)

Thanks! And avatar rocks. No worries.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

Deccydiva said:
Be grateful, many of us are not that far advanced yet! Some of us may never get an Agent, are living below the poverty line and have far more basic things to worry about. Like eating and staying warm...
to all in that situation...

I am very grateful. But I thought the anxiety would end with the agent. I discovered it didn't, and I wanted to hear other people's experiences. But I am very grateful for my agent; I worked hard and it paid off and it felt great . . . until the book went to publishers and the stress came back with a vengeance.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

Ray Veen said:
Can I ask how you "blundered" into the world of writing? And in what way you've been "extraordinarily lucky"?

Sounds like a wild story.

It's not too exciting, really. It involves waiting for my PhD defense, too much time on my hands, and a lot of weird little events that all happened at the right time in my life.

And I do feel lucky, but I've also worked my keister to get everything done. Anyway, thanks for the welcome, I'm really excited about this site.

Cybernaught · Oct 13, 2008

Give me your problem, please. Hell, give me a finished manuscript that I'm satisfied with.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

Cybernaught said:
Give me your problem, please. Hell, give me a finished manuscript that I'm satisfied with.

Are we ever entirely happy with our manuscripts?

I think the day I'm "finished" with a manuscript is the day they close the lid on my coffin.

mysterygrl · Oct 13, 2008

Morrigan said:
I am very grateful. But I thought the anxiety would end with the agent. I discovered it didn't, and I wanted to hear other people's experiences. But I am very grateful for my agent; I worked hard and it paid off and it felt great . . . until the book went to publishers and the stress came back with a vengeance.

Ah, yes. I remember that feeling well. I thought once I signed with an agent, I'd feel like a "real" writer and ooze self-confidence. Nope. I found myself full of a whole new set of worries! That was a good lesson for me--that no matter where we are in our careers, there's always something to feel anxious about. I also learned the importance of working on something new. I let myself fall into a limbo state and lost focus. Not good.

Hang in there.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

mysterygrl said:
Ah, yes. I remember that feeling well. I thought once I signed with an agent, I'd feel like a "real" writer and ooze self-confidence. Nope. I found myself full of a whole new set of worries! That was a good lesson for me--that no matter where we are in our careers, there's always something to feel anxious about. I also learned the importance of working on something new. I let myself fall into a limbo state and lost focus. Not good.

Hang in there.

That's exactly how I felt! I was obviously elated for for about a week. And then it was like, "Okay, it's great news and very exciting, but has anything really changed? And it was a good lesson to learn, you're very right about that. And from what everyone is telling me, there are TONS more lessons after this one . . .

Anyway, thank you very much. I am hanging in there, and I am keeping at it. Which does help a lot. And I hope you relocated your focus! Foci do have a tendency to bugger off, don't they . . .

stormie · Oct 13, 2008

Yep. Interesting reaction, isn't it? You'd think once you had an agent you were home free. Uh-uh. Then once you get an editor who likes it, there are other things that happen. How much of an advance, what rewrites do they need, etc, etc. It's like winning the lottery. Sort of. You're ecstactic at first, then reality hits. Where to put the money? How much to spend? Who ARE these relatives I never heard of before?

The key is to just bask in the moment. You have an agent, and that takes a lot of work. You did it! Now go write that next book.

Cybernaught · Oct 13, 2008

Morrigan said:
Are we ever entirely happy with our manuscripts? I think the day I'm "finished" with a manuscript is the day they close the lid on my coffin.

Ditto.

Morrigan · Oct 13, 2008

MMMMMMM. Advances. . . . *Homer Simpson drool action*

But yes, I've totally started telling people, "I'm anxiety ridden, but if it sells it'll be fine." Then I think about how I'll react (if I get that far) to it getting published and whether or not it sells well, etc.

Thin edge of the wedge opening the floodgates of sheer panic . . . . . . .

Phaeal · Oct 14, 2008

I'm perpetually in a state of waiting as I always have short stories circulating. Soon I'll be in a state of waiting about my third novel. The only salvation is more work. Fall in love with a new story. If the first one fails, you'll have the new one to fall back on. If the first one succeeds, you'll already be on your way to fulfilling a multi-book contract.

Spiny Norman · Oct 14, 2008

I went through that just recently. You just sit and listen to one little stream of communication through your agent, hearing about what the publishers are thinking, and getting little snippets of useful info from your agent.

Mine was sort of a roller coaster. Random House was really interested, the editor built up a ton of support, and then at the editorial board three very important people felt meh about it. I was crushed. I had had that ball rolling for about a month. The editor in question seriously Got It and even said he was more worried about making an offer that would do justice to the writing than getting an offer at all.

And then, after that failed, my agent went on her scheduled vacation for about three weeks. So I spent three weeks writing the next novel in a flurry, certain that this one was doomed. After all, about eight publishers had passed. I went home and drank about a quart of scotch before having some sense talked into me by the girlfriend (it was the day of her birthday party), so I sobered up and went with her and had a great time.

And then, about a month and a whole new novel later, just as my agent was flying across the atlantic, she called me at work and told me that Orbit books had made an offer and was eager to get this thing published.

In short, it's a goddamn roller coaster ride. Some people are lucky (yours sounds like it will be - mine was urban fantasy with lots of literary elements, so that confused a LOT of the genre folk, but the strong romantic angle will probably seal it), some aren't. You just hang in there and wait. It's like your 401k, if you look at it all the time and worry about it, then the rewards will never seem to come.

Ode to Anxiety: I've gotten an agent and now I'm REALLY freaking out

Morrigan

Danalynn

NEVER give up!!!!

Karen Duvall

Chalice the Hatchet Knight

Darzian

To-to-to-ron-to

Bartholomew

Comic guy

Darzian

To-to-to-ron-to

Deccydiva

Back from the dead

Ray Veen

MECHANIZED

Morrigan

Morrigan

Morrigan

Morrigan

Morrigan

Cybernaught

Decker

Morrigan

mysterygrl

Morrigan

stormie

storm central

Cybernaught

Decker

Morrigan

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Spiny Norman