Beetlejuice
The film Beetlejuice features a waiting room for the recently
deceased. It has all the protocols of a government
department.
I'm beginning to wonder whether the rocky road to publication is a bit like that.
You sit in a waiting room, having sent your first draft off to someone who sees the green ink and bins it. And wait. Until you meet someone who tells you that there's a bit more to this writing lark. Better informed, you hone your draft, study, get criticism, target an agent, and go and sit in the next waiting room... and so on.
It's a bit like a hospital appointment: the first waiting room looks quite hopeful. Then you get called forward, only to find another smaller waiting room. You get called forward again, and now you find a row of chairs in the corridor outside the doctor's door.
I've just reached the middle waiting room, with an agent working her socks off to get me onto that row of chairs in the corridor. But I'm still at the back of the waiting room, and can't concentrate enough to pick up one of those old copies of D0-it-yourself Wombat Training that someone has thoughtfully left on the table.
If I lean round the corner, yes, I can see Barry, sitting on one of those chairs awaiting the publication of The Pimlico Kid. I guess one of the skills an author needs is impatient patience.
I'm beginning to wonder whether the rocky road to publication is a bit like that.
You sit in a waiting room, having sent your first draft off to someone who sees the green ink and bins it. And wait. Until you meet someone who tells you that there's a bit more to this writing lark. Better informed, you hone your draft, study, get criticism, target an agent, and go and sit in the next waiting room... and so on.
It's a bit like a hospital appointment: the first waiting room looks quite hopeful. Then you get called forward, only to find another smaller waiting room. You get called forward again, and now you find a row of chairs in the corridor outside the doctor's door.
I've just reached the middle waiting room, with an agent working her socks off to get me onto that row of chairs in the corridor. But I'm still at the back of the waiting room, and can't concentrate enough to pick up one of those old copies of D0-it-yourself Wombat Training that someone has thoughtfully left on the table.
If I lean round the corner, yes, I can see Barry, sitting on one of those chairs awaiting the publication of The Pimlico Kid. I guess one of the skills an author needs is impatient patience.
16 Comments
And Whisks, I have a feeling that one day that bus you're waiting for will take you straight past the lot of us, due to the handy all-clear certificate you just happen to have in your pocket.
Alan - all you need to do is literally think outside the box - turn the room inside-out and you're free! Skylark... I'm not sure whether any sort of patience would suit you. Impatience suits you far better :-D
My comment about chocolate being a possible dreariness cure, when all else fails has disappeared. That's because I have wolfed it up! Dark and delicious it was = upped the 'happy hormones' and the waiting room process seems lighter and less tedious this morning!
1. What projects are you working on at the moment?
2. A brief summary of what's in your portfolio.
3. What hot leads do you have going that you would like us to follow up?
4. What do you want us to do for you in the short-term and medium-term?
5. Where do you want to end up ultimately in your career. Think big! Set your compass and we will all work towards getting you there
I was puzzled. Does this mean I have an agent - there were several other client names on the distribution list? The principal business of this agency is film/tv writing which fits with the questions far better - so did they just send this to everybody? Are they waiting for something from me? More to the point - how do I tell them that I have just realised that chapter 4 needs a total re-write without being bumped back to the queue in reception?
And I'm shivering at the bus stop outside, blowing on my hands and wondering what's going on in those rooms :)"
And I'm driving the bus, which is running late :(
Skylark - would I ever be rude to you? ;-)
Jill - dark chocolate with chilli is sitting by my writing computer - but not for long!
Athelstone - that is puzzling - I think someone here with more experience of planet agent might be able to advise you.
GD - I think it's the publishing industry that needs a miracle cure to stop it going the way of the music industry.
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