Yeah.

For a few minutes Anne, drifting slowly down, enjoyed the romance of her situation to the full.

Maybe it’s my natural impatience (a character defect that continually smacks me in the face), but I seriously underestimated the time every publishing activity ever would take.

Publishing is one of those weird industries that simultaneously moves at the speed of light and the speed of a snail. The “hurry up and wait” phenomenon is in full force here. DEADLINE FRENZY is followed by the lull of the dead. And August?! Forget about it. Nothing happens in publishing in August! Nothing!

Things I’ve waited for in the world of publishing:

• Answers to my queries
• Reaction to my proposal (which got lost in the mail the first time ’round – God help me)
• The first book idea to sell (it didn’t)
• The second book idea to sell (okay, that happened relatively quickly, but a lifetime LIFETIME longer than I imagined)
• Edits and initial reviews
• Royalty statements
• A sense of unstoppable confidence
• A new book idea
• Critiques from every human whose opinion I admire (and those I most fear)
• My ship to come in
• Etc.

Waiting is a mixed bag, I suppose. In its masochistic way, it has taught me to trust myself and to just sit with my ideas, my hopes, and dreams that threaten to engulf me and others and the whole world. And one of my biggest pieces of publishing advice is still “prepare to wait.” What about you?

BIG DISCLAIMER:  This isn’t directed at anyone personally, so don’t worry.

A minute later, she was dragging a heavy marble-topped table across the floor, its rusty castors screeching in protest. She rolled the table under the window, gathered up her skirts, climbed on it and tiptoed to reach the heavy curtain pole. It was almost out of her reach and she jerked at it so impatiently the nails came out of the wood, and the curtains, pole and all, fell to the floor with a clatter.
- from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Yes, waiting is hard, Scarlett!  But tomorrow is another day, and the passage above is a teaser for tomorrow’s blog bounty.

In the meantime, why don’t you sign up to win a galley of The Heroine’s Bookshelf, or perhaps ask  Jo March, Lizzie Bennet, and Scarlett O’Hara for advice to life’s pressing problems (and win a book as well)?  And if you see the book in the wild before its publication date, won’t you let me know?

She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main.

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery

The countdown continues…and today you can not only sign up to win a galley of The Heroine’s Bookshelf, but you can now turn to Jo March, Lizzie Bennet, and Scarlett O’Hara for advice to life’s pressing problems on The Roaring 20s.

“What are you doing up so late, Prima Donna?” he asked. “It’s not Saturday night, you know.”

“I was sitting at the window,” she whispered, “waiting for my arm to drop off.”

- Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Is the release of one’s first book as anguishing as Francie’s midnight vigil?  No way, but it’s fun to look back at passages about waiting from my favorite heroine tomes.

While you wait (just eight days to go) for The Heroine’s Bookshelf to hit your shelf, why not participate in a contest? 

Tell me who you can’t wait to tell about THB and why, and I’ll enter you in a drawing for one of five now-rare galleys of the book! *

Stay tuned for more prizes, guest posts, and anticipatory delights as we inch forward to October 19…and don’t forget to tell a friend about upcoming events in Colorado, New York, and Massachusetts  (details on the right-hand side of the blog)!

*Drawing will end Friday, October 15.  United States residents only, please!

P.S.:  GoodReads and LibraryThing members can win a finished copy of the book here: http://www.librarything.com/er/giveaway/list or http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/5865-the-heroine-s-bookshelf-life-lessons-from-jane-austen-to-laura-ingalls

Be patient, Jo, don’t get despondent or do rash things, write to me often, and be my brave girl, ready to help and cheer all.

- Marmee’s last words as she leaves to take care of Father in Washington, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

When I update my friends and (gulp) fans about book progress, there always seem to be a million unanswered questions.  Is there a cover yet?  Have you seen it in print?  When will it be in stores?  Have any of the foreign rights sold?  How will you possibly wait until October to hold your book in your hands?  Believe me, these are questions I share, too.

From sale (May 1, 2009) to publication (October 19, 2010) will have been just about a year and six months.  But before that came an even longer wait…three years of having an agent and no book to sell, years before that writing books that will (thank God) never see the light of day, waiting, working, and more waiting.  And I’m one of the lucky ones.  So many writers wait what seems like eons before finding the right publisher or agent for their work, before honing their craft or moving on or finding their perfect project.

Like Jo March, patience has never exactly been my strong suit.  I am quick to solidify an impression and even quicker to get flustered when things don’t go my way.  So this entire process has been an exercise in self-control.  Now that the years seem to speed by like unruly comets, I know that October will be here before I know it.  My challenge is to fill the wait with both enjoyment (this is my only time to enjoy being a first-time author, to experience the mystery of seeing my debut come into the world) and productivity (it’s time to get cracking on other projects so there is some kind of literary future ahead of me).  When people used to ask me about being a writer, my first question would be “how hard are you willing to work?”  Now I add “how are you at the whole waiting thing?” to the mix.  A heroine might not always be patient, but she can learn to love the wait, right?