The Waiting is KILLING me!

Right now, I am utterly terrified. And not in the "It was a dark and stormy night..." sort of way either. That's a tale for another day, lol. No, right now I am going through what every author I know, and have talked to personally goes through. I just sent my Cowboy story off to another publisher for consideration this last weekend.

So, from the moment I hit "send" and watched it disappear into cyberspace I have felt that overwhelming urge... to puke. I obsess... why are you rolling your eyes? Yes, crazy, Southern, annoying me obsesses... stop rolling your eyes! Several of my crit partners and author friends are probably laughing their collective asses off at me right now. THEY know just how much I obsess over every little thing. "Did I put enough of this in there? How about less of that? What do you think?" and usually their response is, "I'm sure it's wonderful, so KNOCK IT OFF!"

I had already subbed this to another publisher once and they basically said, "You have a wonderful voice, and I really want to take this one but this just isn't hot enough for us." Devastating... but helpful all at once, as they didn't say, "You suck, never send to us again!" So I truly have no ill feelings toward that publisher, I love them and their editors were a joy to work with. No, I'm not kissing ass... sheesh.

I think my terror this time around comes from the fact that this is the second time I've sent this baby out into the world. Granted, I've added quite a bit of content that wasn't there before. The original incarnation was approximately 11,000 words... it's now over 18,500 words. I'm hoping that means better dialogue, conflict and... heat. :-D

But still... it's the waiting ... I am not, even on my better days, a patient person. I want to know something within days... not weeks much less months. And I know this anxiety is going to be eating me alive until I get a response one way or the other. I've tried burying myself in edits of another story I've finished, but I'm not sure that's helped much... since I haven't done much editing on it, lol.

So, if y'all could just... I dunno, cross your fingers for me? Give me some advice or ideas on how you get through the waiting period? I'm driving my family barmy by constantly checking for an email that I know it's not feasible to see yet. Does anyone have any ideas how to keep me from going insane or flipping myself out? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?