I’m sure every writer who has submitted their work to a publisher, agent or editor has done this. You study the submission guidelines until your brain aches and your eyes are fuzzy. You’ve read it, double checked your own work, and then repeated the process again. You hit ‘send’ or whack a stamp on the envelope and promise yourself you will just wait and see what happens.

All good in theory . . .

Soon you find yourself back at the computer studying the timescale guide. Most of the timescale guides I’ve read state it can take up to 6-8 weeks to hear either a ‘Yay’ (congrats, you’ve jumped that really hard  first hurdle) or another ‘Nay’ (you’ll need that thick skin I’ve mentioned before)

Sometimes those guides state that if you’ve not heard anything after that time, assume you’ve been unsuccessful.

When I sent the first lot of submissions out for The Principle of Evil, I heard back from all the organisations I submitted to within the timescale, except for one . . . until yesterday that is. Six months AFTER submission, another person wants to read the full manuscript on an exclusive basis.

That was a massive shock to the system, and gave me a much-needed boost of confidence.

Sometimes it’s hard not to feel despondent about your own work and you allow the same old doubts to kick in, but to have another professional working in the business think that your work is worth a read/real consideration, means so much, especially since agents and publishers are sent new work by aspiring writers every day as well as dealing with their existing clients.

So, although this still may not lead exactly where I want it to, at least I know there must be some potential in my writing.

I guess all us aspiring authors should always think positive, never get complacent and remember that sometimes, just sometimes, no news can be GOOD news, no matter how long you play the waiting game.