I’m feeling sick and grumpy today. Got a vile cold and aren’t fit company for man or beast. Anyway, thought I needed a bit of perspective on – yup, you guessed it – waiting. Here’s a quick list for you:
1. Penelope waited 20 years for Odysseus to return.
2. Pharaoh Kufu waited 20 years for the Great Pyramid at Giza to be built.
3. The average wait time for a new heart is 6 months (UK).
4. The Count of Monte Cristo was in prison for 14 years.
5. Heathcliff was away from Catherine for 3 years.
6. It takes 6 months to become a New Zealand citizen.
7. It took JK Rowling’s agent a year to find a publisher for her Harry Potter manuscript.
8. The Israelites spent 40 years wandering.
9. Getting to Mars would take between 7 and 9 months depending on how fast you were travelling.
10. Keri Hulme (NZ writer) spent 10 years writing her Booker Prize winning novel, The Bone People.
In comparison, my ms has been in London for 9 weeks, which is no time at all. Nuff said, I think.
Oh, and the above facts may or may not be true – my research could be (and probably is!) highly suspect.
Aw, how miserable. Hope you feel better soon (a few days rather than 20 years…!)
Better not be 20 years! Thanks, Lucy. Maybe I’ll get a Booker prize winning novel out of this wait yet. 😉
Oh Jackie, at least you can be grateful it’s not a man-cold!
While perspective is good, it doesn’t really help (and i’m only at 4 weeks for my ms, and some of that was travelling time…)!
I’m actually pretty thrilled with the wait time on a heart in the UK I actually thought it was a LOT longer, so that’s made my day! I always get a chuckle when I read how long it took them to find a publisher for Harry Potter, imagine being someone who held that ms in their hands and turned it down!!
Feel better! Each Chocolate!
Becca – if I had a man-cold, I’d be in hospital by now. 🙂 No, the perspectives don’t actually help but I’m trying. Good luck with yours and here’s to NTAI.
Lacey – I could be wrong on the wait time for a heart! Google isn’t exactly an academic source. 🙂
I’m trying to tell myself the same thing re the HP ms. Imagine how gutted M&B will feel if they turn down mine and then it goes on to sell for millions and millions??
Chocolate helps, but sadly at this stage Ibuprofen is better.
I’m feeling cranky today too but it’s lack of sleep! Thanks for ‘the wait list’ which brought a smile to my face 🙂
Glad to help make you smile, Rach. Lack of sleep is a killer. Hope Lucy gets back to you soon!
Ah, sick and grumpy is my permanent state at the moment so I sympathise. Actually, if you were a man your cold would be swine flu 😉
I like your waiting facts. Do you realise you could have made up stuff and we would have believed it? That kind of power has got to cheer you up 🙂
Hope you’re feeling better soon and able to NTAI
Aw poor you Jackie. Hope you feel better soon.
I loved your list. Especially the Harry Potter one — gives us all hope.
I’m cranky today too but that’s due to keeping a 14 year old daughter in line! It’s too hard. I think I want her to be 5 again. Old enough to be at school but young enough to be a good girl!!
Get well soon, Jackie. Waiting is horrible at the best of times, but especially rotten when you’re not well.
(would more boots help?)
Hey Jackie,
Hope you feel better soon. And being sick definitely gives you a right be grumpier than usual about waiting.
Thanks guys. Lorraine, I could make it up but having worked in a university for many years, I just couldn’t stoop to the level of the students. 😉
Ah Joanne, I have that joy ahead of me. My oldest is only 8, thank God.
Suzanne, I reckon more boots would be just the answer! I shall consult with Great Uncle Visa.
Thanks Sri. I know, I’m being a bit petulant with the waiting. I blame the cold. 🙂