Doldrums – A Writer’s Journey

2012/October by Marji Laine 7 Comments

You know how the game of Candy Land has that molasses swamp? The whole board is covered with a bright candy variety that still stimulates the kid in me when I see it. Then just before the end, the whole corner is just brown.

Nowadays, of course, I think of chocolate and my mouth inadvertently starts to drool, but

as a child, I didn’t like the color brown. Especially when it could be green or yellow.

And the purpose of the swamp was to drag you down just before you reached the end of your game. To pull you down and make you flounder steps from the finish line.

Reminds me of that swamp in The Princess Bride, too. A place where fears and apathy could set in and steal the determination and joy right out of a person.

In the publishing journey, it’s called the query process. Strike that, I’m sure I’ll be visiting this swamp several times in my career, but right NOW it is the query process. As my book sits in the hands of several editors, it could be several months before I learn whether they are interested or not. And of course there is a much greater chance that they will not be interested simply from the sheer numbers of submissions they receive all the time. In fact, one publisher, Abingdon Press, has it’s list so filled at this point, that they are no longer taking submissions until June 2013!

I find myself checking emails constantly, turning cold each time I get one from my agent or an email address that I don’t readily recognize. And I could dwell there, get little done, and dabble in apathy or depression. But in the words of Dr. Seuss, “No! That’s not for you! Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places were Boom Bands are playing.”

So I’m looking for the Boom Bands. I’ve submitted an entry in a contest. I’ve been working on rewrites to the second book in my series while the first is trying to find its place with a publisher. I’ve laid out a new story that I’ll be fast-drafting in November for NaNoWriMo. I’ve also set up a new character from that story to branch into a story of her own.

So not staying in a waiting place.

But I still find myself checking the emails.

Your Turn: What are you waiting for???