IWSG Wednesday: The Waiting Game

It's the first Wednesday of February, which means it's once again time for Insecure Writer's Support Group! Because so much of writing is done alone in your head, it can sometimes feel a little lonely (well, aside from all the imaginary characters tromping through your head). I'm grateful for the richly supportive writing community, which reminds me I'm not alone in my madness!

That said, the name of this month's writing insecurity is waiting. It seems like a lot of writing also involves waiting: waiting for your CPs or beta readers to get back to you, waiting for turnaround from the editor, waiting on agent feedback, waiting for an editor to fall in love with your book. For someone like me with a few OCD tendencies, waiting can be extremely hard. I don't like surprises; I like knowing what's coming next--and sometimes that just isn't possible with writing, particularly with the traditional publishing route I've chosen.

The good thing is, I do have control over my favorite part--and that's the writing itself. Since I spent most of November in a revision and querying frenzy, I didn't do NaNoWriMo in November. So some writer friends and I tried a modified version of JaNoWriMo. I set myself a modest goal of 30K by the end of the month--and I just passed 35K in a new manuscript! It's still quite a drafty mess, but it's reminding me of the pleasure I get exploring a new world and new characters, and it gives me something to invest my energy in while I wait.