Patience vs. Persistence
I received an e-mail the other day, a nice little note from the group who I submitted my short story to back in November. The note was sent to thank me for entering the contest and for being a valuable part of the writing community. My heart sank when at first I thought the note was an attempt to lift my spirits before crushing them.
The note turned out not to be a rejection letter but instead a notice to inform me that judging is now underway and the winners will be notified at the end of February. Another month to wait on top of the two months I’ve waited so far. And this is for a short story of no more than 1,500 words.
Due to these cold hard facts, my plan was to submit my book to contests, especially those where only unpublished authors could submit work. How long will it take to hear back about a full-length book contest?
There were a number of contests I had my eye on, one actually offered results in two months but according to most of the other contest guidelines, the results take an average of about six months. It’s understandable, of course. Each organization holding a contest must receive hundreds or possibly thousands of submissions. It would take many, many hours for the panel of judges to read through such a high number. I don’t envy those judges; it must be very tedious and tremendously difficult to work your way through such a large number of novels in only a few months.
Patience has never been a virtue of mine. I especially have difficulty waiting on others even considering the fact that I might understand their delay. The idea of sending my book off to a group or a number of groups and then wait…for what will feel like an eternity for a “yea” or a “nay” is something I find very difficult.
I do love research. Being informed means being well armed.
I’ll keep you informed as I go along. Wish me luck!