As part of my job, I'm always receiving questions from writers asking advice on this or that scenario in writing and publishing. And while sometimes it takes me a little bit of time to get back, it constantly frustrates me to find out when I've given a thoughtful response that the writers decided not to wait for my feedback AND that they did things the wrong way. So, I just wanted to talk a little about confusing impatience with a sense of urgency.
Having a sense of urgency is a very good thing in life if you want to get things done. It's the opposite of procrastination and pushes us to reach our goals, whether that is writing a novel or sending out pitches for magazine articles. A person with a sense of urgency will set short-term and long-term goals and work to meet them.
Impatience, on the other hand, is a very bad thing. Examples of this include taking the time to ask an expert a question but not waiting for a response; writing a first draft of a manuscript but not taking the time to revise and refine; and crafting query letters without researching your market.
While sitting around doing nothing will get you no results, moving around and doing things in an impatient (and incomplete) manner can make a damaging impact on your future success. So move, but move wisely.
What I try to do while waiting for a response from someone is to either work on another project or do something else with the current project that still needs "doing." For someone who is impatient, time management may be the best solution.
katzkraftz1I usually have multiple writings in the works at any given time, so it's easy enough for me to move onto the next thing while I'm waiting for a response to something else. Let's face it, if I waited to hear back from a publisher before starting my next book or article I'd be lucky to get two or three sent out in a year. I'd be even luckier to have each of those published given how many rejections I've gotten over the years.
Time management is something every writer should take into account whether it's to help manage time between writings, or if it's to make sure they have enough time to spend with family as well as writing.
So, I will choose to move wisely.
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