Thursday, April 14, 2016

Waiting, on hold

"Hold the line, please" Photo by Muffet, used with permission, cc license

As I type this, I am literally on hold, listening to artificially cheerful and utterly generic music, punctuated by a recorded message about how all the representatives are busy, blah, blah blah.

That is actually an easier 'hold' to deal with then the more abstract issue of waiting for answers.

I feel like I'm in an endless holding pattern in my life and on multiple fronts.

  • Waiting for word on my submission to Angry Robot's open fantasy call. The novel I submitted had been requested during their last submission period, and the editor who read it had asked me to revise and resubmit. When I had finished the revision, the editor had left the publisher, so I sent it for their call that ended in January. I have high hopes, but tempered by the knowledge that so much in this business is subjective and what one editor loved, another might be tepid about.
  • Waiting for the final cover art for DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE.  Chris Howard is an extremely talented artist and writer, who also has a stressful day job, along with his own writing career to manage. I've worked with him before and know what he sends me will rock. I'm just impatient and excited. (And here, take a look at the concept sketch! Love it!) 
This is Dev. She's working on sabotaging the spaceship she's being held captive on.  
  • Waiting to hear about an idea I had to create a choose-your-own-adventure type text game from the fantasy world of my Changeling's Choice novels.
  • Waiting/hoping to see improvement from a medical treatment a family member is undergoing. It's not something I can talk about without betraying confidences, but it's something that's been weighing heavily on my mind and heart, and something I have absolutely no control over.
  • Waiting to hear back from the sellers of a farm/farmhouse in Western Mass. We're looking to 'buy the farm' (don't worry - that's literally, not figuratively!) as the next step in our pre-retirement life. I've seen the property and it's wonderful. My husband has not been able to get out there b/c of work and travel, but we're hoping to schedule a time to see it the weekend of April 23/24 and keeping fingers crossed that it's still available.
This is where I want to write all the words!
  •  Waiting to hear back from several authors I've contacted about reading/blurbing DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE. These are all writers I have some connection with and I did my best to craft a polite and compelling request, but everyone's time is limited, and I know what I'm asking is a large favor in terms of time and commitment. 
I'm not someone who does well with ambiguity. Honestly, I'd prefer a 'no' to silence, so having all these things up in the air makes for a very discomfited Lisa.  I am doing the best I can to stay focused and positive and spent a good chunk of yesterday brainstorming for the choose-your-own-adventure game as well as the final copyedits for DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE. Today, I'm actually feeling more grounded and settled. Work is definitely my antidote to anxiety.

I'm definitely hanging in there and keeping the faith in writer-land.

#SFWApro




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1 comment:

  1. Ouch, that's a lot of things up in the air... I only have one little $150 copy writing client input up in the air, and *that* is frustrating. I'd be pulling my hair out if I had that much going on ;) Oh, and good morning heh.

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