while I wait . . . .

[swan_tower]

[Poll #1700868]

Me, I prefer open-ended waiting, because then I can generally put the subject from my mind and move on to other things. But if I've been given a timetable, then I'm constantly distracted, and I get nothing done.

Yes, I'm waiting for something right now. Yes, I've been told it will happen sometime soonish. How did you guess?

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, but convincing yourself to give them more time is still within a known framework.

"They said it would be six months, and I've given them a year," is still more information about what your position should be on asking than, "They didn't know how long it'd take, and it's been a year, and that's kind of longer than I expected."

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

See, I'm oddly okay with deadlines I set myself. "This short story market is generally slow, like up to four months; I'll give them six, and if I haven't heard back I'll query." Fine. But if an editor e-mails me and says, "I'm holding onto this story for further consideration; you should hear back in the next two weeks," then I wake up every morning going "has he e-mailed me back yet? How about now? Now?" And then when the two weeks pass, I hem and haw, so I give him another week, and then maybe that's not enough, so another week after that, and now it's been a month but I dunno, should I query yet . . . .

If you say the flaw in this situation is me, I will not argue with you. :-)