Comments on: The Death of Chatterton Or Feeling Annoyed With Waiting https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:08:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Judy Jarvie https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-448 Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:08:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-448 Hugs Jackie. The waiting is the pits. But I have a burning hope and lots of fingers and toes crossed for you.

]]> By: Lucy King https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-433 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:24:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-433 Ah, the waiting’s agony, isn’t it? Hang on in there – am convinced the news will be good!!

]]> By: Jackie Ashenden https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-432 Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:13:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-432 Rach, Lorraine, Felicity, Romy, Kate and Natalie, thank you sooo much for your supportive words and good wishes. I am being the biggest wibbler in the world! My problem is that I am not a patient person and waiting is just so hard for me. You’d think I’d have learned something since I subbed this thing in August last year!
Anyway, please forgive the whinging and moaning. I am being patient – at least I’m trying. Kate, as you say, what will be will be and I shall have to cultivate a little fatalism.

Anyway, even if it is a rejection in the end, I am absolutely determined to get there. I’ve got this far, I’d be stupid to give up now.

]]> By: Natalie Anderson https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-431 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:03:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-431 Listen to Kate Jackie – she is so right… waiting is just part of the business and you have to work out your own strategies for coping with it.

I was one of those people with a 2 day wait time (ie the weekend)for the call but I know now how very rare that was… there was just this perfect mix of circumstances with a gap in the schedule etc and me with revisions that I somehow just got right. But its not normal – most of the other authors I know who were bought in the same few months as me had much longer wait times for that first sale – one of them was over a year – and she still got the call saying YES. How long you have to wait is no reflection on whether they’ll say yay or nay… the time waiting is just because of circumstance…
I’ve had far bigger waits since – for every book infact! And no, it isn’t easy, but the only thing I try to do is to get working on something else.
Don’t let the angst over waiting colour your day to day life (I can be SO guilty of this!)… be proud of your achivements so far and keep on striving… and you will get there!

Good luck!
~Natalie

]]> By: Kate Walker https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-430 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:54:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-430 Sorry Jackie but you’re reading the wrong call stories. Five weeks’ wait is fairly normal in any form of publishing. Five weeks when your editor couldn’t get to it for a week – plus the fact that Easter holidays were in there is something that even a published author can expect sometimes. I know I’ve had that waiting time myself often enough.

I know it’s so very hard but to be honest my advice to you is to accept that waiting is part of the writing/publishing game. And to try to switch off from counting the days as much as you can. The length of time your ms is away has very little impact on the final decision – that will be what will be.

Try just to remember that you have taken several big steps forward already. That you have been asked to do revisions, that you have had editorial advice on them and that you have a specific editor agreeing to read your submission – these are things that are invaluable and that many unpublished writers would kill for.

The truth is that if you go in to writing for publication waiting spells are going to be part of your life. Editors are very busy people with most of their time already allocated to books already contracted and scheduled and even then there’s a waiting time. My own latest submission was over two weeks ago.

It never gets any better – or any easier!

Good luck with this submission

Kate

]]> By: Romy https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-429 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:24:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-429 I think the longer wait suggests good news rather than bad. It’s a big decision to sign on a new writer and involves several departments.

Because they’ll be buying you (hopefully for the rest of your lifetime) and not just your novel, they’ll be discussing your sale in meetings and circulating your manuscript, and all that takes time.

]]> By: Lorraine https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-428 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:06:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-428 At least you’re not starving to death in your garret while you wait, that would definitely make it worse. Perhaps Chatterton needed a chocolate martini or two?

Hope you manage to enjoy your weekend. You know I agree with all the others – it’s just a matter of time before your name is added to the author list 🙂

]]> By: Felicity Roger https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-427 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:29:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-427 The absolute worse that can happen is that they reject your manuscript. If they do, they will give you pointers as to how to improve and, because they love your voice and they realise this is a journey, an open door to resubmit. Wow! Your writing is fabulous and if not this one, it will be just around the corner. In saying that, the race is not yet over, so hopefully a phone call this week.

Cheers

PS: My word verification is ‘bileape’. Is it just me or is that just wrong.

]]> By: Rachael Johns https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-426 Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:08:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-426 Jackie, I really, really feel for you… I’m still waiting to hear which proposal is best and that’s nerve-wracking enough. Luckily I’ve started one anyway to keep me busy… knowing my luck, she’ll tell me to start the other one 🙂

But Suzanne is right… they already love ya and to have had revision requests on a full is an amazing feat in itself. I have every confidence YOU WILL get there!!

]]> By: Jackie Ashenden https://www.jackieashenden.com/the-death-of-chatterton-or-feeling-annoyed-with-waiting/#comment-425 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:25:00 +0000 http://jackieashenden.com/?p=560#comment-425 Thanks so much, Suzanne. Trying to think positive but waiting takes its toll. I’ll have to shut up about it ’cause it’s getting boring now. 🙂

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