I’ve got many friends still in the query trenches, experiencing the roller coaster. There are a lot of ups and downs. There’s also a TON of waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
When he started querying, he still had hair.
So now, I offer a list of ways to keep from going crazy while waiting for news.
- Make a to scale Lego model of Hogwarts.
- Teach yourself a new language. Read Harry Potter in that language.
- Start a blog about the differences.
- Watch every episode of Doctor Who (old and new). There are a lot of them.
- Blog about your Doctor Who-watching experience. Pick something – maybe you want to detail the foods you ate while watching the show, or make up a special drinking game. As long as it’s time consuming, go with it.
- Knit yourself a sweater. Sure, it’s spring (sort of), but you’ve got a long wait ahead of you. Don’t know how to knit? Perfect! What better time to learn?
- Get a pet. I could watch my cats run around in circles for hours. And dogs need to be walked a couple of times a day.
- Fall down the rabbit hole of the internet. Read up on all the old stories at the Urban Legends website to determine which are fact or fiction.
- Finally beat 2048/Candy Crush/whatever new game is out there.
- Offer to beta read for a friend. Having something else to focus on is hugely important.
- Vent online. The writer’s community on Twitter is amazingly supportive. Just be careful what you say and the level of detail you give.
- Read the entire works of William Shakespeare.
- Download the classics – most of them can be found free on Project Gutenberg. You can also put them on a tablet, phone, or computer via Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
- Do a full back-up of your hard drive. Or maybe two. Just in case.
- Get a part-time job. No seriously. When I was querying, I thought about applying at Taco Bell.
- Learn the lyrics to that really fast song from Hairspray.
- Take up yoga. Seriously, you probably need it.
- Create a blog and make crazy long lists for no reason.
- Watch every episode of every Star Trek. There are like a zillion. If you still haven’t heard back, it could be the apocalypse.
- Start your next project. That way, when the agent calls and says, “What else are you working on?,” you’ll have a coherent answer.
Most importantly, take care of yourself. Hitting refresh constantly won’t make the answer come any sooner. It’ll just make the waiting more unbearable. So, take a break, walk away from the computer, and relax.
Thanks 😀
I'm revising an MS as I wait and I've got a few other ideas.