Welcome to the Waiting Game!

It's been a Loooong time since I've been out on submission. Years, actually. Now that I am querying, all the old memories (most of which I've blocked from my psyche) have come flooding back like elephants riding a tank on rough boulders through my tender brain. Unwelcome memories.

My husband has been very encouraging. He's always been my #2 fan (the #1 spot belongs to my mom!) and although he doesn't "get" the masochistic aspect of querying, he's excited for me to "put myself out there."

I've realized (with help from writing buddies I've lamented to) that the key to NOT going starkers while waiting for a reply from a potential agent--is to immerse myself in another project, or other things.

I try. I really do. But there's that little voice at the back of my brain, which I call a Doubt Demon, who sometimes acts very naughty. Sometimes he likes to stand RIGHT in the front, on the rooftop of my brain and scream YOU HAVEN'T HEARD FROM (DREAM AGENT) YET! HE/SHE MUST HATE IT! YOU WRITE RUBBISH! HE/SHE IS READING YOUR SAMPLE WORK AND THROWING UP IN HIS/HER MOUTH RIGHT NOW! WHY DO YOU EVEN TRY? GO EAT AN ENTIRE BAG OF HERSHEY'S KISSES!

Yeah, that little voice is naughty. So, I have to call on the other voice, (a.k.a the voice or REASON) to occasionally knock him over the head with a frying pan and drag him back to the back of my mind, where he belongs. Silly little Doubt Demon.

Lucky for me, he's keeping pretty quiet right now, because he knows just as well as I, that any query I send out is sitting in a slush pile somewhere, and it takes time.

Of course I read the other day that this agent can respond anywhere from 8 days to 4 months, so my little Doubt Demon will probably start to get "antsy" in about two weeks.

*sigh* Gotta love the Waiting Game.