Episode 18 - How to Survive the Waiting Game in Publishing

I did a post about this on social media, but the captions weren’t long enough to fully cover this, so here’s a full episode! Because boy oh boy is patience important when pursuing or navigating traditional publishing 😅 I give you not only mindset shifts, but also concrete actions that have helped me to deal with the silence and long periods of wait on this journey. They will absolutely help you too!

✨ Join the 5-Day Writer Hype Challenge! Five days of me hyping you up to get you so excited about your writing again and get you eager to go back to the page every single day! We start April 20th. Join here: https://stan.store/leftieaube/p/join-the-5day-writer-hype-challenge-c7bwq81j ✨

Mentioned in this episode:

• Follow me on Instagram & TikTok
• The Submission Grinder
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Read my published flash fiction piece Five is better than three is better than four?
• The Story Grid Methodology
• Join my 5-Day Writer Hype Challenge!
• How to Deal with Rejection
• How to Deal with Disappointment
• Try Opal to block your social media and get 30 days of Opal Pro free by using my link!
• How I Lost My Hope (on submission)
• Haley Hoffman Smith
• Manifestation Babe
• Marley Rose Harris
• The Higher Self App
• Support the podcast on Ko-Fi!

Recorded on March 30th, 2026

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Get my FREE Essential Reading List for fiction writers (all the books that changed my life and that I wish I had when starting out): https://stan.store/leftieaube/p/get-my-essential-reading-list-for-writers-4ag5vdil

Visit my Bookshop page: https://bookshop.org/shop/leftieaube

Try out Scrivener (my favorite writing tool ever, the one I use to write all my novels!): https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener-affiliate.html?fpr=leftie68

This podcast is recorded and edited using Descript! Try Descript with my link and get 50% off your two first months of the Creator monthly plan: https://descript.cello.so/AalBvnPSC8o

It is hosted by Spotify for Podcasters: https://podcasters.spotify.com/

Intro music credit: “Cinematic Cello Arpeggio Trailer” by Gregor Quendel, found on Free Sound https://freesound.org/s/555995/

Disclaimer: Some of the above links are affiliates. At no extra cost to you, I’m receiving compensation for any purchase made through those links. Buying through those links supports my writing journey, which I highly appreciate!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Lift Yobe's Writing Podcast, where I share with vulnerability and positivity my journey towards making all of my writing dreams come true. And I hope you learn with me as I go from the things that go well and what doesn't go so well. But mainly I wish it inspires you to pursue your own writing and dreams. Now let's begin.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to Lefty Always Writing Podcast. I'm so happy that you're here today for another episode, or maybe it's your first episode. Which, if it is, I'm so grateful that you're here. And you can go back and check out my previous episode. So today I have I think an episode that will be so helpful to literally every writer who is seeking a traditional deal, who is on the traditional path to writing. And it is how to survive the waiting game in publishing. Because if you've ever attempted this path in any way, shape, or form, you already know that there's so much waiting involved. And at every single stage of the journey, whether you're querying on submission, even if you had a book deal, like one of my friends had his book deal and had to wait an entire year before he could even announce the deal. So there is so much waiting in this business. And he has to wait another six months before the book is out. So there is so much waiting in this business. So we have to find a way to deal with it in a good way if we want to survive this business, but also like just feel better on the way to our dreams. And you know, that's all what I am about about us feeling as best as we could on this journey, no matter how it's going. Because I can imagine, like, I don't know, I'm not there yet, but I can imagine that when you have a book deal or you've announced it and you're waiting for the book to come out or anything like that, like it could be easier to wait. I'm just imagining. I'm thinking the worst space is when you're waiting in silence and nothing's moving, and you don't even know if your book is ever going to get published or if you're ever going to get an agent. That's what I think, but maybe I'm wrong. But anyway, those techniques apply to every step of the way, and I know they work because I had been dealing with waiting in a worse way before. Let's say that waiting was really hard on me just a few months ago, even worse like a year ago, even worse two, three years ago. So I've been there in finding the waiting to be totally insufferable, and I can say that right now, like I'm good with it, actually. Like, I'm not saying that every single day it's always perfect, but I can always bring myself back to being okay with it and just moving forward. So I'm going to share with you my tips on that. And I actually did uh post on Instagram, TikTok about this topic, and people liked it. So I was like, okay, I need to do an entire podcast episode on this subject because there was more tips that I could not fit into a caption of a video on social media. So my podcast is the place for this. So this is coming up in the topic part of the episode. Stay tuned for that. But for now, here's my writing update what happened in my writing journey, my writing career since the last episode last week. So, first thing first, I got another short story rejection. So, actually, because I'm using the submission grinder, by the way, if you're submitting to magazine or in the press with your novel, the submission grinder is just like the resource you need to have. You can search for market to submit your story and you can track your submission too, so you don't forget where you send it, when. You can see all of this data for free inside of the submission grinder. So it's absolutely amazing. And because of the submission grinder, there was a magazine that I submitted a story back in October, and that I saw that pretty much almost everyone had had an answer in the same bracket that they send as me. And I also saw that the magazine did an old another open submission period. So I was like, okay, if they have another submission period that's open, it must mean that they have responded to everyone in the last batch, and I hadn't gotten an answer. So what I did is I wrote them. There was a place in the submission guideline to write to the editors and see where we're at. And they responded to me actually today saying, Yeah, some of our rejection went into a spam folder. Sorry, you're rejected. The story is rejected, not me. So that was a bummer, of course, because when it's been a long time, as you'll see in the topic part of the episode, when it's been a really long time and you haven't heard back, sometimes it's a really good sign. So I thought that it could be a really good sign. But then this case turns out it wasn't. Now I've written this story, I think at least a few years ago. Like, yeah, years ago. Probably at least eight years ago, if not more. Oh my god, I was still in Sijip when I wrote it. So definitely more than eight years. My daughter is seven years old, so that was before that. Probably ten years ago. Oh my god, time goes by. So I wrote this story 10 years ago. It was the most channeled story I ever wrote. I remember I was starting meditating at the time, and I had read in Eat Pre Love that you need to give an intention to your meditation. So before sitting down, I asked, you know, I wanted to have creativity. That was what I was looking for in that meditation. When my meditation was done, I packed my things, went in the bus to go to school, and in the bus ride to school, this story just poured into my mind. Like it was a pure channel moment. The words just flowed out. So I took my I think it was a high pod touch at the time. I don't think I had a cell phone, or maybe it was like my first iPhone. I think it was my first iPhone. So I took my iPhone out and I opened a notes app and I started writing this story that was just coming to me. It's a really short story, kind of a love story, but it doesn't have an happy ending. But I I love the story so so so much. It's the closest thing to literary fiction I've ever done. And it's just beautiful. Like I really, really love the story. And I wrote it all those years ago, but maybe a year or two, I went back, I reread it to see okay, can I edit it to make it better, to try to submit it again because it had received like when I first started submitting it, I got only rejection on it. Of course, it's not published, and I decided like a few years ago, okay, I'm going to go back, I'm a better writer, I'm going to go back to the story, reread it, and see if I can improve it. And honestly, I think I changed five sentences tops, like tops. I changed the first sentence, the last sentence, and maybe a few in there, but that's all. The rest of the story is still the channeled story. Like, that's why I know that it came through me, not by me, because I didn't have the writing skills at the time to be able to write this story, and I didn't had to edit it even with better skills, like years later. So totally channeled from somewhere. Anyway, I still really love this story. I've submitted a lot to a lot of magazines, all paying magazine, because you know, I want to be a professional writer, so I'm like, I need to submit to magazine that pays. But I'm tired of this story not getting published, like I want it published because it's good, and so I found this morning two magazine UP tokens, so just five dollars for the story. I was like, and they answered quickly too. Like, I did not want to wait, wait, I did not want it to wait like for six months to get an answer. And I know that those magazines respond fast because of the submission writer. So I said, okay, I'm just going to submit it to those two plays, pay token. I'm going to see, and if they reject, also after that, I'm going to submit it to non-paying magazine. Basically, there is one where I submitted a previous short story that actually got published in November. I'm going to put the link in the show notes if you want to go check, if you want to go read it. It's a flash fiction piece, like only a couple of sentences. I really like it. And it was my first publication in a long time, so that was cool. There was actually one magazine who publishes Flash Fiction. They are a non-paying magazine, but I really liked our vibe. And actually, with that story that got published, they rejected it, but they said we really like your writing style, send us more things, please. And I know that it was not their form, I knew that it was a personalization because I've submitted the flash fiction piece to them before and it didn't include this little thing. So I'm like, if the two magazines I send the story to now, if they both reject it, I will submit it to this magazine who said they liked my writing. So we'll see. It's a non-paying market, but at this point I just want this story published. I'm like, it's good, I know it's good, I love it. Maybe there's no place for it in pain market, but I need to find a place for it, and I'm going to find it. So that's about it for the short fiction side. I haven't heard about anything else except for this one. Next thing, I've been working on my novel. I'm editing my second hour novel with my agent so we can get it ready for publication. And I've been making a lot of progress in the last week. Actually, I started writing on my breaks at my day job again, which is something I hadn't done in a long time. Since like in a long time, since December. So the story is progressing. By progressing, I mean I'm rereading it right now, and I'm spreadsheeting it according to the story grid methodology. If you've never heard about the story grid, or if you heard about it but you never actually tried to learn it or apply it, this is your sign to do it because oh my god. I thought at first it could be a waste of time for me to do this, but actually, the first like I have a prologue, the prologue was working already, I knew it, so the story grid didn't change much because it was already working. But my two next scenes, so the two first real scenes of the novel, they weren't working, and it's through applying that methodology of the story grid that I discovered exactly why, and that I came up with the way to fix it, and now I'm so excited to go back and to edit those scenes and make them fit with the story grid five commandments, and I'm like so excited about it, and I don't think I would have gotten to that point if it hadn't been for the story grid, and so and again it reinforced like taking my time with this novel and doing this work of putting it through the story grid spreadsheet, doing the story grid graph, which I'm doing this time around. I didn't do it with my last novel, really doing the scene analysis, writing the scenes, Evan, really looking toward all of this before I start editing the scenes, like it will take more time, but it will make for such a stronger novel, and I can already see it with just like three scenes analyzed so far. So this is really great. I don't think we'll see, I don't think I will have to do this much of intense work like all throughout. I don't think all the scenes will not be working, it would need to be like change a lot according to the five commandments of Sorry Grid. But for the scenes that need it, it will make a huge difference. And also, so I'm only three scenes in. It's been what two weeks since I spoke with my agent. Yes, two weeks, I think. Uh, and I've only gone through three scenes, but I've also been working a lot on the world-building elements because my story is around a haunted house. A haunted house that when you get into, you get trapped, and you need to confront yourself, confront your demon in order to get out of the house alive, which almost every single person who ever stepped into this house didn't manage to get out alive. So, my character, of course, gets into the house and has to face. And the question is, will she manage to get out? So it's really fun. But all of this mechanics around the house and how it works and how it interacts with the village, it needs to be solid, it needs to be on point, it needs to be all thought through, and my agent is amazing with that. Like she always has the right question for me to think about to be sure that my world building is as solid as it can be. So, as I'm rereading, I'm working through all of this, I'm asking the why question, like I talked about in last episode. I'm thinking about my metaphors, I'm asking myself all of those questions to be certain that everything works well. And I think the fact that I'm doing this before I start editing is also like a big advantage to my editing. Because if there's a big answer on the world-building side that comes to me at the end of analyzing and spreadsheeting the whole novel, I will be able to implement it from the beginning. If there is another like red hearing or a clue that I need to implement at the beginning, I will be capable of doing that because I will have done my big plan. And if I started editing the scenes right now, I wouldn't have that big overview, and therefore I think I would do even more back and forth. And I really don't think it will save me that much time if I were to do it this way. So that's why I'm reading it all, spreadsheeting it all, asking myself all the questions, finding the answer to all the questions, and then I'll go back into the scenes and I'll start editing them. I'll send them to my better readers, I'll send them to my agent, we'll rework on it together, and then the scenes will be locked, and then the novel will be locked, and then boom, it's going to be out to editors. And I'm so excited because I really feel like this novel is freaking awesome, and it's going to be even more awesome with the editing process. So I'm just so excited for the next step. But right now, like I'm deep in the editing and really enjoying it, and it's so fun. So that's where I'm at with the writing right now. Before we move on to the topic part of the episode, I want to talk to you about something really cool that's coming up, and it's the five-day writer hype challenge. So if you've been feeling a bit like muh with your writing lately, or if it felt like, yeah, you're writing, but there is no like momentum behind it, there is no excitement behind it, you're just doing it because like it's a habit, or you're not doing it because you're feeling muh about it. Or even if like you feel kind of good, but you just like to feel even more pumped up, even more excited, even more writing with so much joy and excitement, and really get back to the page every day with this energy of this is so amazing. This challenge is for you. The challenge starts April 20th. It will run for five days, where every single day I'm going to be sending you multiple audios to get you excited about your writing again. So you'll get even more of me in your hair if that's what you like. And I can, I think you can see that my energy is pretty up there. So I'm going to be infusing this energy into you for the all entire week starting April 20th. And I'm going to send you also short audio exercise on mindset to really get you to this place, and also quick writing exercise that you can implement to your work in progress to infuse again this excitement into it. So it's going to be so fun at the end of the five days, like all throughout, but even more at the end of the five days, you'll feel so pumped, so excited, so joyful about your writing again. And you'll keep the challenge forever. You will get access to the audios even after the challenge ends. So if a few months after the challenge ends, you feel like you need a little pick-me-up again, you can go back and release some to the audios anytime you want. And the best part is it's only 15 Canadian dollars. So my US friend, it's around like $10 for you. Because I want the yes to be easy for you. I don't want any resistance for you to say, yes, I want to get in. Yes, I want this excitement. So that's why I decided to keep the price low. So if you're interested in joining the challenge right now, just go in the show notes, enjoy the challenge right now. I cannot wait to see you inside. And now for the topic part of the episode, how to survive the waiting game in publishing. So, from the first part of the episode, I think you already got an idea of where I'm going with this, but I'm gonna walk you through everything you need to keep in mind as you're waiting to allow yourself to deal with this waiting time with more grace and for it to be less painful for you because the waiting period can be so painful. If you've been there, you absolutely know. So if you implement each of those six things that I'm going to talk about, I promise on the end of this, you will feel so much better about the wait. And if you think that's not possible, because I know some of you are like, come on, it's impossible to be okay with the waiting. Just try me, just listen to the end, apply them. That's really important. Don't just listen, like, actually apply it, and you'll see, you'll get better with the waiting. So the first thing is to reframe silence. So this was inside my Instagram post, but it's so important because I don't know about you. If it's not the case for you, you can go back to my episode about how to deal with disappointment, how to deal with rejection. I have two episodes about that. You can go back and listen to them. If you're getting rejection and it's really hurting you, you can listen to those. But for me, I prefer having rejection than having silence. I feel like when there are like regular rejection coming in, I feel like there's still movement, there's still momentum, and it helps me with the waiting because at least things are moving, things are progressing. But when there is just silence and there is a period of silence, let me tell you, either in querying in submission, lots of waiting time and submission. Waiting time with silence. And for me, the silence was really a part that was. Frushing me because I was like, are they ghosting me? Like I think that's always where we go to. It's like, I don't have an answer, therefore it must be that they're ghosting me. But it's important to reframe this thinking. Instead of saying, I suck so much that they don't answer me. And if I didn't suck that much, I would have an answer already. Reframe it. Reframe it to silence is a sign that they are reading and they are liking what they're reading. Now, doesn't really matter if it's true or not. What matters if what's helping you in the moment, what makes you feel good in the moment. And thinking you are not hearing anything because you suck and your writing suck makes you feel bad. But thinking that there is silence because people are reading and liking what they're reading, now that makes you feel good. And we we don't care what's the truth. What's important is how you're feeling in the waiting. It's also really easy to see how this could be true too. Just to, you know, comfort the part of your brain you want to tell me, but it could be ghosting too. Yeah, of course it could be ghosting. But reading an entire book, especially if we're talking querying submission, reading an entire book takes a long time. You know it. You know it takes you a long time. And it takes even a longer time when you have multiple, and I'm thinking hundreds of other books that you need to read too when it's not the first one and the only one on your list. Think about your bang to be red piled. It takes a long time. So and agent editors, even editors at magazines, they get so many submissions. So just getting through their backlog of reading takes a long time. And if they like what they're reading, they are looking for a reason to say no to you. They just are. That's just the nature of the game. So if they aren't saying no, it's because they like what they're reading. It could really well be that. And on that note, like I've seen that which short story submission, the one who took the longest, were usually because it's a maybe pile. Same thing with querying. Usually they say that with a full request, it could take easily up to six months to a year if an agent really reads it all until the end. So it takes a long time. And that's what I've seen also in my submission journey. Usually we get a lot of no's when we just send out a batch of submissions. I see we, but it's my agent. We get a batch of no's really quickly because they've read like only a few pages and they know it's not for them. It's usually the one we get a long time after that you can really see that the editor has read the entire novel or that it's when far in the submission process before it became a no. So it's actually true that usually when it takes a long time, it's because there's something good. And that brings me to the second tip, which is to have a thoughts i gene. So it's link together. But you know you can control your thoughts, right? It's actually hard, it's not something that's easy, especially when you are not used to it. But having awareness of the thoughts that go by in your mind, being capable of stopping the ones that are not helpful, that are not make you feel good, and be able to reframe them into something that's more useful, that makes you feel better. It's actually a practice that will revolutionize your whole entire life, to be honest. But especially with writing, it's so so so crucial to have thoughts hygiene. So just that the same way that you will have thoughts hygiene with reframing silence. So when you see that your mind goes into I'm not earing anything, it means that I suck and everyone's ghosting me, you reframe that to no, it means that people are reading me and they are liking what they read. Instantly you feel better. But it could be the same thing with how you're feeling about yourself in the waiting period to be sure to reframe them to things more useful. So I'm not as far as I wish I were. Cut it, no, reframe it. No, I'm actually made a lot of progress. I finished a book, I got an agent. This is amazing. I would not go back to the person I was five years ago. I've made progress. Yes, I wish I had that thing, but I can also celebrate where I am right now. So just catching those thoughts that come up with why you're feeling this way in the waiting period. So catching the thoughts that come up that make you feel bad about the waiting period, because the thoughts that go through your mind will tell you about how you feel with the waiting period, and you can then reframe them into something that's more useful. And again, it's not about knowing is it true or not, is how you make it making you feel. Because if in the end, you know, it's because they were rejecting you, it's because they were ghosting you, you will end up knowing at some point and you will feel bad no matter what. But if you felt good for an entire year while you were waiting because you thought you were waiting and they were loving what they were reading, you would have felt good for a year. But if you spent a year saying, of course they are ghosting me, of course it's because I'm not good enough, my book is not good enough, and then you discover that ha, you were right, they were all ghosting you, you would just have spent a year feeling bad, and it will not be easier for you at the end when you get the confirmation, you will just feel bad. So practicing this little thoughts, hygiene, will really help. And now, on more of a practical level, usually when we have a hard time waiting, it's because we think that what we're waiting for will give us something that we don't have right now and that we wish we had, that we think the thing we're waiting for will give us. For example, if you don't feel like you're a good writer and you're waiting on an agent saying, Yes, I want to work with you before you can feel good about your writing, then that's why it's so hard to wait on an agent wanting to work with you. Because you feel this lack of love for yourself, love for your work, confidence in yourself, and you're waiting on something external to you to give you that thing that you're like, and that's what's making the wait so long. That's on the mindset side, but it could also be on the concrete side. Like for me, for a long time, I knew that why I was waiting so much, what I was wanting to get out of a book deal. So you need to ask yourself, okay, what am I waiting for out of this thing? I'm waiting. What I wanted out of the book deal, make money from my writing so that I can lower my working hours and spend more time working on my novels, on the thing that I like, like this podcast, like my content creation online, like the course I'm now developing, which I love so much, and the challenge. I've wanted to spend more time doing this because this is what lights me up. And my day job, while I'm so grateful for it and it's like the best day job I could have right now, it doesn't light me up as much as this. So I wanted to make money, I still want, I want to make money with my writing so I can lower my working hours and spend more time doing what I love most. So that's what I was waiting for with my book deal. So I took a step back and I was like, okay, if what I want, ultimately what I want is more time for my writing. This is what I want. So how can I write now, give it to myself? And that's basically what you need to do with any answer you come up when you ask the question, what do I think that this thing I'm waiting for will give me in the moment? And can I give a version of this to myself right now so that I don't need this other thing anymore? So if you don't need that other thing, then you're not waiting on it because you have it already. And I know that that's something that's easier to say than to do. All of this is easier to say than to do. But start with the the smallest level you can do it and gradually build it, and you will see the impact of that. So, like with the mindset piece, if you're waiting on an agent wanting to work with you to feel good about your writing, can you go and seek evidence that you had that you're good at writing? Is there micro evidence? Did the agent that reject you say at some point you're a really good writer, but I just didn't connect with the story? And you only saw I didn't connect with the story, and your eye completely removed uh you're such a good writer before. Go back, find those evidence. Ask your friend, can you read my book and tell me everything that's good about it? I've actually done that. It's really helpful, let me tell you. And it's okay, they will not invent something that they like. There's something good in every book. So just to make you feel better about yourself, go and ask for it. Go back and reread your own work with a reader's eyes to allow yourself to see what you love about your writing and let this feeling come inside of you. And for example, like with my wanting more time to write, it was what I was waiting for out of a book deal. What I did is I sat down with my budget and I was like, okay, is there a way for me to cut some of my working hours to dedicate more time to writing? Can I do that right now? And actually the answer was yes. Yes, I can do that right now. And I have a day job that allows me to do that. So, what did I do? I did it and it actually worked because I'm now spending more time doing the things that I love. I also cut my phone time using Opal. I talked about it before, but it's really a great app to block your social media apps because like they are designed to make you stick to them. So having another app that cuts it really helps. So I use that, I put it super restrictively and I'm listening to it. And because I spend more time on my phone, I have more time, more time that I can then dedicate to my writing. This is what I wanted out of the book deal, more time. But I found small ways, big, like lowering my working hours is kind of big too, but also small ways with cutting forward time to give myself this time right now. Of course, it's not the big thing, but when you have it in small increment every single day in your life, it's easier to feel like you're not waiting on something because you have a small version of it every single day in your life. So try this exercise. I'm telling you, it's really helpful, and it's really helpful also for you to see why is the waiting so painful when you actually go and look at where it comes from. And I'm telling you, it always comes from a lack that you think the agent, the book deal, anything will solve. And actually, if you don't give it to yourself first, it might not even give it to you then. But that's a topic for a manifestation podcast. I won't go too deeply into that. But if you don't give it to yourself, like especially with things that are more mindset, like thinking you're a good writer, like you could have an agent and then a book deal and say, Oh, well, it's when I will have a New York Times bestseller novel that I will feel like I'm a good writer, and then you will get that, but you will say, Oh no, but I've never got a prize, so that's when I get a writing prize that I you see. If you don't give it to yourself, no matter what you have externally will never be enough. But anyway, again, again, I'm not going too deeply into that. So the fourth thing is to get excited about the new project. Now I know what you're going to say, you're going to say, but I've heard this advice so many times. Work on something new. And I've tried it and it's not working. The key is to get excited about the new project, not just start working on another project just to be able to see, hey, I'm working on something new. Please, I don't want to be like in the pain of waiting anymore. No, no, no, no. Not for that, not in a way to trick yourself. Get excited about a new project. Now, this takes a bit of work to get excited about writing. You can join my challenge if you want help with that. Actually, but it takes a bit of work to really get excited about your work again, but it makes all the difference. And I think that when you're doing it for the right reason, really to get back to your love of writing, when you're really deep into the creation, not expecting anything out of it, like you can go back to this excitement. And when you're really excited about the project you're working on, then you don't think about your other project anymore because you're deeply into this one, and also because we're always growing as writers. When you work on something new and you see progress and you see it so good, you will usually feel like, oh my god, this is so much better than the other one. I'm waiting news on. It's it's almost always what happens. Like with my project that I'm working on now, like my first novel, I love it dearly with all my art, and I still believe that it's so so so good. But I'm like, this one, like, oh, like it's really good too. And I think also it's it's a concept that's easier to grasp to sell it, like on the on the marketing side, on a more commercial side, like it feels like it's novel that it's going to be so easy to sell. So I'm like, oh, I can wait to get it out on submission because I feel like this one really has something special. And usually you always feel like this with every new book that you work on when you're really coming at it from a right place, when you're really giving it your art, when you're really progressing and wanting to give more to that book. That's usually how you all will always feel. So getting excited and about another project will make the waiting feel less. And I can tell you, like, that was my biggest mistake when I was querying, is I was trying to work on um short story because I wanted to have another short story to submit, but there wasn't excitement there, like it was just working on something to work on something because I knew it was good for me to work on something else. There was no energy behind us, or there was no intention about it. And the eight months that I was querying were the worst months for me in terms of waiting. And I know that the difference with last year, like I was on submission last year, and like I talked about in my hope episode, yes, I was thinking a lot about the submission, and the waiting was hard because I hadn't implemented all of the tips I have there. But at least when I was writing, I was so excited about this new project that the moment where I was writing, I really felt good, and I wasn't thinking at all about submission, and I wasn't waiting at all. The moment where I was deep into my other story, I was just excited, and also it made me say, okay, if this one, is this first one doesn't work, at least I have this. At least it's not like it's all over with my career forever. I'm working on something that I love that I'm so excited about, and so it was always there as a secondary hope, you know? So I can tell you it makes a lot of difference. The fifth thing is something that I've just recently implemented, and I've been even more good about my waiting right now. So I think this is something that I've neglected for so long, but that could be really good, and it's to get excited about something other than writing. This is something my friend Vivian, who I love so much, she talked to me about that it had helped her when she was trying to get something, and it really made a difference in how she detached from her golf. So usually when the waiting is so hard and so difficult to survive, it's because we are so attached to it. Like it's the only way we could be happy is if we have that thing, and that's why we cannot wait to get it. But when you loosen your grip on that thing, it really helps to not feel the waiting as so painful anymore. And working on something other than writing really helps with that. And so, right now, for me, what I've implemented is with creating all those things to help other writers, which is something I'm so passionate about, like with this podcast, like my content on Instagram, but with my new course too, and like the challenge that I'm doing, these things I'm so passionate about teaching and helping other writers that when I'm thinking about those things and I'm working on those things, it takes up mental space that I don't dedicate to the submission because there's nothing I can do about the submission anyway. So I'd rather have my mental energy, my mental time be on projects that I can actually work on, that I actually have control over. So having those other things, like yeah, for me, it's kind of related to writing, but it could also be something completely different. I don't know, if you pick up a new Abby, a new craft project, and you get so excited about that, the moment when you're dedicating to this other thing will be other moments in your day when you're not thinking about that thing you're waiting for. So trust me, this is really something that makes a difference. Because also I think it's making you be more in the present moment, making you more connected to living your actual life that you have right now, instead of just waiting for something else to make your life worth living. It's like if I don't have an agent, if I don't have a book deal, then my life's not fun, my life's not exciting. That's usually what we feel. If I don't get a story acceptance, then my life's not that fun. The joy and the excitement, I feel it only when I have a good news in my inbox. But when you get excited and you feel joy and fun and you lose yourself in something completely different than writing, then again, you're giving yourself the joy, the excitement, and you're being in the present moment, so you don't need that other thing anymore. You see, that's all about not needing it, really, in order to be more comfortable with the waiting. And now the last thing, and I will not go deep into that too much. Again, this is more for like personal development, manifesting podcasts, but I think it's really worth mentioning, and it's to work on your beliefs, work on your hope, work with your subconscious mind. So if you deep down believe that it's impossible for you to get an agent for whatever reason, whatever happened in your past, you think it's absolutely impossible for you for this to happen, the waiting will be insufferable because every day that you're not getting a good email in your inbox is confirming and validating this belief inside of you. So when you go and work and reframe that belief, word with your subconscious mind to make you see, no, I am going bare, I am on the path to having an agent, to having a book deal, and really believe it deep down inside of you that this is really where you're going, then it's easier to reframe the silence, to have a better grasp on your thoughts because your beliefs align with the thoughts you're trying to get in, and the way you want to see silence aligns with your belief. So you can check out online. There is so many resources on that. You will easily find them. My personal favorite is Ailey Offman-Smith. I really love what she's doing, her podcast or book. It's really helped me with all the belief rewiring. There also manifestation babe, who talks a lot about that. I've done her Epiclein Limitless Year program in the past, and it's really been helpful on this belief rewiring stuff. There's Marley Rose Harris. She has an app, the Higher Self app, who also has lots of exercise on how you can reframe your belief, work on the fear that you have. It's called Clear the Fear, her method. So just to name those three, but there are so many other basically find what resonates with you to work on your belief, to rewire your subconscious mind to get you on board. Because you can do all of this, but if deep down you believe that it's impossible for you to ever get a book deal, Because you've been working on this for so long and you've nothing to show for it, then no matter what you do, the belief will be stronger than everything else you're doing. So I think it's important to go and look at this on top of all the tips that I've given you already. So that's it for the episode today. So remember, if you want to join the five-day writer hype challenge, you can go in the show notes to find the link. Can't wait to see you inside. And also, if you love the podcast, consider sporting in on Ko-Fi. I haven't mentioned this in a while, but I have a Ko-Fi page with tiers with cool advantage at every level when you are a member on Ko-Fi. And it's open me to cover the cost of the podcast. So it's super appreciated because I want to keep this podcast free forever. So if you can, that's a beautiful way to show your support to the podcast. But if you can't or you don't want to, that's completely okay. You can also help and support the podcast for free by rating, reviewing, and subscribing to it whatever you listen to the podcast. All of this is super helpful to get other people to discover the podcast. But on this, I'll see you next week. And in the meantime, have a lovely week of writing.