W is for Waiting

Is it just me, or does it seem like life involves a lot of waiting? I feel like I'm in a kind of 'waiting stage' of life, where I'm waiting for...a lot. I'm waiting to finish up things with this dumb jaw surgery so I can move to Oregon. I'm waiting to hear back from all the jobs I applied to so I know if I'm going to starve or not once I do move. I'm waiting to have the space and money to buy a puppy. I'm waiting to not be single anymore. I'm waiting for January so I can apply to the University of Oregon MFA program, and others, after which I will be doing more waiting. I'm waiting to be accepted for publication in The New Yorker, or some such. I'm waiting (and working) to finish my novel so I can submit it to agents, so I can do more waiting, so they can submit it to editors, so I can do even more waiting.

Frankly, my dear, I don't care a whit for waiting. I hate it, despise it, and am very, very bad at it. Its amazing how bad a waiter I am considering how much practice I have. (That's another kind of waiting I might end up being good at, depending on the job market in Eugene). See, what really bothers me, is that no matter how hard you work, no matter how much you market and write and submit and apply, there comes a point when you are forced to wait for someone else. Waiting for them to accept you for publication, representation, a date or a job, waiting for them to follow your blog, watch your YouTube video or buy your book. You can work and work and work, but it just leads to waiting and waiting and waiting.

So you keep working. Work while you wait. Its better than doing your waiting sitting around. It still sucks, and I'm still very bad at it, but at least it takes the edge off of the antsyness of not doing anything. Books, movies and good TV shows also help de-drearify the waiting period. Especially when all the waits for everything in your life seem to converge. But keep working and keep enjoying. Waits always end eventually. I hope.

Sarah Allen