The best thing publishing teaches you

Let's face it, publishing teaches you a lot of things.

Life isn't always fair.
It is impossible to please everyone.
Success is a relative term.

And, the one I'm going to talk about today. Patience is an excellent thing to have.

I think most people know publishing is known for its snail-like pace. Nothing happens quickly in publishing. Like, it generally takes about two years for a book to come out once the book is sold. Sometimes, it's much longer than that. Like, I have one book going on five years. Crazy, I know. I'm hoping it will be one of those things that is very much worth the wait.

Anyway, what I've learned is nothing good comes from worrying about it, thinking about it, wishing things would just hurry up already! In fact, all that does for me is to make me anxious and depressed. So I really try to put the stuff I'm waiting on (and have basically no control over) out of my mind as much as possible. This is how I manage to keep my good attitude while waiting.

Last month I made the big decision to give my home office a makeover. I started by ordering a desk from Pottery Barn that was on sale. It was on backorder and was due to be delivered mid-September to October. I decided this was okay because it gave me time to do other things - go through stuff, pack up boxes of books and sell the old furniture I didn't want anymore, paint the room, etc. etc.

Normally when I decide to do something like this, it is all I think about and work on from beginning to end. Because I want to get to the end result. I don't like the mess and the chaos and the ugliness that happens in the middle, so I try to go as quickly as possible to just be DONE. But this project is taking a long time. Well, a long time in my mind, I guess.

The good news is that the books are packed up and I've donated some I don't want anymore. I've sold some stuff on ebay. I've sold some furniture on craigslist. The room is looking emptier and emptier, which is nice. I think I've decided on a paint color, so the next big thing will be to buy the paint and let my talented handyman husband do his magic over a weekend. I was hoping we might do it next weekend, if the desk will be here in the next couple of weeks, but I checked the status of the order and learned that the shipping date is now not until sometime in October, which means I won't get it until mid-October through the first part of November.

Ughhhhhh.

More waiting. I e-mailed Pottery Barn and asked if there was anything they could do, because two whole months is a long time to wait for a desk and maybe I should look for a desk elsewhere. They said it's on back order through the supplier so there isn't much they can do, but the customer service rep did say she'd give me a 15% credit at the time the thing is shipped and my credit card is billed.

The thing is, I looked at a lot of desks before I placed my order, and there isn't a whole lot out there that I like. I really DO want my order. I just don't want to have to wait for it. But I'm going to have to. The nice thing is that extra money does help me keep a good attitude while I wait. It's going to help buy a new bookcase or two. And, it's not like I don't have a desk now - I do. It's ugly and crap, but I've been using it for the past 5+ years, so what's another month?

In publishing, a month is nothing. So, for now, I put the desk and the paint out of my mind. While I look at bookshelves, and look around to figure out what else I can get rid of around here.

Mess. Chaos.

Still, of I can wait two years for a book to come out, surely I can wait another month for my lovely new office.

And now, back to bookshelf shopping!