What To Do While Waiting For Queries
If you’re one of the lucky (read: twitchy, anxiously refreshing email, sleepless) writers that has sent queries out, you’re likely stuck in a waiting game.
Nervously watching the clock, expecting to hear back from your prospective agents any second. If you want to drive yourself mad, I suggest you continue stalking them on twitter. Oh and be sure to click the refresh button on your email right about now. And now. BUT! If you rather reclaim your life and regain your sanity, I’ve come up with some things you can do in the meantime:
Write something new! It could be a blog post, flash fiction, a short story or getting words down for your new WIP.
Bake a cake! You best make it shaped like a book. You know, for good luck.
Watch TV or a movie! The Neverending Story or The Words should do quite nicely.
Go out with family or friends! Take a drive, to the mall, or a location shopping area. Why? To a bookstore of course!
Spend time in the outdoors! Getting to know how paper is made from trees can be thrilling. And you just might be inspired with a new idea or two.
In all seriousness, it’s probably best you take your mind off your queries. So while the above list still applies, you should do other things than refresh your email. Try to focus on non-writing related topics or adventures to hold your attention. I try my best to only check my email a few times a day and spend the rest offline. What do you do to pass the time when waiting on queries?
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7 Comments
I just blogged about this very topic, and to summarize – I read. The wait is killing me, so I try to keep my mind off checking the e-mail by reading everything I diligently placed on my to-read list.
That’s a good way to distract yourself! It can be such a difficult time, but eventually we all make it through 🙂
Having not properly queried yet, I’m definitely not looking forward to this aspect… I’m not sure if it’s better or worse now that I have email on my phone. But yeah, I definitely want to start something new as soon as I start querying, so I can feel like I already have something in progress if things don’t work out (and a second project to share if things do!) that’s my logical plan but I’m not sure exactly how well it’ll work when it actually happens 🙂
It sounds like a great plan! And yes, smartphones can make the waiting worse. But luckily you now have access to a list of ways to distract yourself 😉
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I always enjoy your blogs…great tips and advice…Among my favourite blogs…
Thanks so much!