Aspiring Writer: Waiting for a Publisher

Waiting … is anyone good at it? Yet it’s part of the writing life. Especially when it comes to waiting for a publisher who will love our treasured novel.

The Waiting

As my novel went out to publisher after publisher, my agent kept me informed. I prayed. My prayer team prayed. Others prayed. Yet months passed by. More than a year later, we still waited.

I sighed and whispered. “How long, Lord?”

Only he knew.

At first I was excited. Most publishing houses asked for the full manuscript. How promising it appeared. But then … no contract offer.

“Don’t worry,” my agent said. Jim Hart was absolutely certain the novel would sell.

I had to believe him because it seemed the Lord was whispering the same message to me. Soon, I heard in my heart.

Yet what did this particular soon mean? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? Only the Lord knew.

In the meantime, my job was to continue to write and improve my skills, believe, and wait expectantly. I was also to help other writers succeed without losing heart about my own publishing possibilities.

“Helping other writers” was easy. I loved every minute of it. But “not losing heart”? That part took effort. I kept telling myself my novel would find a publisher and be released when the right time came.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 (New King James Version) says: “To everything there is a season. A right time for everything under heaven.”

Surely that included the promised sale of my novel, the beginning of my career as a novelist, and  the fruition of my longtime dream.

How long, Lord?

***

Dear Reader, you may be waiting for your longtime dream to come true. A promise you feel the Lord has whispered in your heart. Let’s wait patiently together. God will not fail you. At the right time, your season will arrive. Mine, too. Let’s believe together.

~ Beth

Copyright 2014 Beth Ann Ziarnik