Today, in our ongoing thread about how to pass the time while your work is out to agents and editors, author A.J. Larrieu offers tips on self-distraction.
A.J. was born and raised in southern Louisiana. She was torn between studying biology and English in college, so she compromised by getting a degree in biochemistry and writing on the side. Ten years later she’s still leading a double life. She writes urban fantasy set in the South and in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently lives. She is represented by Sarah LaPolla at Curtis Brown, Ltd. Her first novel is currently on submission. You can visit her at www.ajlarrieu.com and, what’s more, you can win prizes by commenting on this post! See how below!
Take it away, A.J.!
Most of the time, I’m a functioning adult. I can make my own lunch and get myself up in the morning, and I don’t require midday naps (as long as I’ve had my coffee). But waiting to hear back from editors turns me into a kindergartener. If I don’t keep my brain constantly distracted, it runs off on its own and gets in to all sorts of psychological trouble. Why haven’t I heard anything? (Cue hours of fruitless Google-stalking of publishing imprints and author bulletin boards.) Oh God, I’ll never get published… (Cue unhealthy levels of chocolate consumption.) You all know how it goes, right? I have to keep myself distracted, or I’ll lose my mind.
Distraction One: Writing.
Right now I’m waiting to hear back from editors on Book One of a proposed series, so I’m optimistically working away on Book Two. For obvious reasons, this isn’t always an adequate distraction. When I feel myself slipping into the Anxiety Death Spiral, I take a break from book-writing and write honest-to-goodness pen-and-paper letters to friends. It’s a great way to procrastinate because it takes longer than typing. And they write me back! It’s nice to get something in the mail and know before I open it that it won’t be a rejection.
Distraction Two: Reading
But not just any reading. Everyone’s heard of the second-book-blues, and now I think I get why they exist. It’s definitely a challenge to write the second book before the first one sells, and if I’m lucky enough to have a deadline in the future, I’m sure it’ll only get harder. In an attempt to avoid “the sophomore slump,” I’ve been reading other authors’ Book Twos with a critical eye. Are they successful? Why or why not? If they’re writing a series, how did they keep the tension and conflict fresh? The Book Twos on my list right now are Melissa Marr’s Ink Exchange, Nicole Peeler’s Tracking the Tempest, and Sophie Littlefield’s A Bad Day for Pretty. Since all of these ladies are very talented, I’ve been picking up a ton of inspiration.
Distraction Three: Running Away
A couple of weeks after my agent sent out my first round of submissions, I went on vacation to Italy. I was lucky: I’d planned the vacation months before, and it fell at the perfect time. There’s nothing like sitting by a pool in Tuscany with a bottle of chilled wine to make you forget your worries. That, and I only had sporadic email access. I won’t be able to use this method for every submission—I’ll be lucky if I ever get to go to Italy again—but there are easier ways to run away than hopping on planes to foreign countries. Visit a part of your city you’ve never seen. Go sit in a park or a coffee shop without your laptop/notebook. Cut yourself off. I’ve come back from my trip a lot less obsessive, mostly because I got out of the habit of checking my email every five minutes. I give it another week before I start hovering again, but right now, it’s kind of nice that my “new email!” alert on my phone no longer wakes me up out of a dead sleep.
How do you pass the time while you’re waiting? One lucky commenter will get a copy of one of the “Books Twos” I’m reading as distraction!
12 Comments
I just keep repeating a mantra to myself. “They don’t hate it. They just haven’t read it yet. They don’t hate it. They just haven’t read it yet….”
@margaret y: What a great mantra! I’ll have to borrow that…
I actually love when a new book is on submission. I’ve been through it four times now (one didn’t ever sell) and I’ve learned to thrill to the pins-and-needles possibility of it all, to daydream of auctions and editors throwing themselves across their desks and, um, trips to Italy – to promote the book, of course.
It doesn’t matter at all that the reality is often something far different. It just *feels* like anything in the world can happen, and as a person with an oversized imagination there’s just about nothing nicer.
I was tickled to see that you’re reading PRETTY.
Sophie, you have such a great attitude! May I borrow some of your optimism?
I took Stella with me to Italy–I blew through 75% of SORRY before the plane even landed, then I had to wait till I got back to go buy PRETTY. So good!
I love the letter idea. I really should do more of that — I can’t imagine anything nicer than finding a letter in the mail, and I don’t think I have in years. Lovely.
Thinking GREAT submission thoughts. Which sounds kinky, but you know what I mean.
I love writing letters! And thanks for the good thoughts
Aww, I can only imagine the waiting game:( I can hardly wait for brownies to come out the oven much less waiting for book submissions! Hey, you could always fill your time with mindless games of Solitaire or Bejewled or the dreaded Facebook addictive games (nope, I’ve managed to stay away from all facebook games)! Haha!
Mmmm…. brownies…. I should have listed “baking” as one of my distractions. It has the added benefit of providing comfort food.
Try yoga and meditation when you can’t get to Italy. BTW there is no level of unhealthy consumption of chocolate!
Ooo, good idea. If only I could work in a vacation for every submission, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen again.
OMG, this post is made of win. I’m not a very patient person, which is definitely not a good fit for wanting a career in publishing.
Ugh, the waiting… it burns. The only way I can think of not to go nuts is to just keep writing. Working on the second book of a series would carry its own challenges, though. If I were in that position, I’d probably go back to writing Buffy fanfic as a chaser
I think I might try taking a day trip or two. Am I a total geek for looking forward so much to Ye Olde Renaissance Faire? If I can’t make it to Italy, at least I can make it to (fake) Renaissance England.
I’ve heard other folks say they keep a side project on hand for when they get writer’s block, that way you can take a break but still be writing. But I think real breaks are important, too. Huzzah Renaissance Faire!