So, What Does An Author On Submission DO?

Truth be told, I'd never thought this far ahead.  When your goal is Get An Agent, that's as far as you think.

Know what I mean?  In a nebulous sort of way, you know there's way more beyond that.  It's just that there's really no point in thinking about it until you've actually arrived.  Become agented.

Then it hits you:  HOLYHULAHOOPSMYMANUSCRIPTISONTHEDESKOFEDITORS

And, yeah.  For the first week after going "live," it's pretty much an obsession point.  Obsessed, as in, checking blog stats for editor snoopage.  Obsessed, as in, staring at my WIP as if words will appear of their own accord--because I can't seem to concentrate.  Obsessed, as in, living for the next email ding.

Oh, yes.  Josh has his very own, Authoress-assigned email ding.  Thanks to the wisdom of Jodi Meadows, I turned off my universal Mac Mail ding, because it was turning me into a frenetic spazoid.

(Wait. I think I probably already WAS a frenetic spazoid.)

At any rate, my email is now silent, with two notable exceptions:  Family members get a sweet little chirp (hi, Mom!), and Josh gets the classic ding.

It works for me.  When I hear a ding, I KNOW it's Josh.  And I've stopped jumping out of my epidermis.

Of course, he's enjoying it a little too much.  Know what the subject line of my last email from Josh said?

"DING!"

At least he knows I love him, yes?

So now that I've calmed down, what is it, exactly, that I'm doing?

Why, I'm writing.  I'm as excited as ever about my WIP (the is-it-urban-fantasy-or-is-it-paranormal debate continues to rage inside my brain).  Admittedly, the going is a little slower.  I haven't done my 1000-words-a-day for a while.  But that has more to do with the fact that I am revising right now than it does my distractedness.  Deleting chunks of text doesn't lend itself to large word counts at the end of the day.  So for now, 500 new words make me happy.

So, yeah.  Life as usual.  The occasional "So-and-so is excited to read your manuscript!" from Josh is laid gently aside as I continue to focus on my work-at-hand.  I've already made the mental switch of life-goes-on-as-the-silent-waiting-begins.  And it's okay!

In fact, it's awesome.  I've been writing for years, and this time I'm writing while one of my finished works is out there making the rounds. 

So that's me, really.  And the new blog has me busy, too (check it out later today to read an awesome interview with Hélène Boudreau!).

Now, if winter would just go away forever, I'd be PERFECTLY content.

Okay.  Maybe just a little twitch once in a while.  Like when my email dings.