Aw, do I have to?

In a mood of faith and hope, my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer, and I take up my pen to write.
- Pearl S. Buck

I'm calling it. Waiting is the hardest part about being a writer. First, you wait for inspiration. Then you wait for your fingers to catch up with your thoughts. And then you wait to reach the words every writer loves and hates at the same time -- The End.

At least when you're doing that, you're usually writing. For me, the worst part of being a writer is the seemingly endless waiting between querying an agent/editor/publisher and getting a response. I think the average time -- if you get a reply at all -- is 12 weeks. Suppose you get a reply (and again, you should consider yourself lucky). It's usually a request for either a partial or a full manuscript and synopsis. Then you wait to hear something from that, which seems to be anywhere from 12 weeks (if you're incredibly lucky) to an entire year, with the average falling somewhere in between.

That's where I am right now, with my sophomore book, tentatively titled The Hybrid. Two publishers now have requested fulls after reading the partial, and now, I have to wait and see what happens.


So what do I do in the meantime?


Well, I'm a writer. I'll trudge on through the next two books I currently have in progress, and try to forget about the one currently on the crowded desks of editors somewhere.


What about you? How do you handle that tedious waiting period between querying and reply?