The Hope in Waiting … some reflections on Advent

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There’s something both exciting and tremendously nerve-wracking when we press the send button on the email that whisks the latest manuscript off to a publisher. Exciting? The project we’ve been working on has now reached a point of completion. In my case that project had consumed a lot of my mind space for the past three years.

Nerve-wracking? Will they like it? Enough to publish it? What if they don’t? What will I do then?

It’s a moment that is soon forgotten.

And then we wait.

And wait some more.

A few months later an email arrives outlining your manuscript is still in the game. Being reviewed by some others. They liked it sufficiently to pass onto others. Great.

And then we wait.

And wait some more.

As I shared with a writing friend recently: the Lord's got it in His big capable hands. Waiting helps us lean on Him more. And that's what I've tried to do. Keep writing, keep hoping, keep knowing He's looking after the situation irrespective of whether I receive a positive response or not. 

We are People who Wait

We authors wait a lot. It’s part of the fabric of being an author. I expect it’s one of the reasons self-publishing has become so popular: the author takes greater control over the end product and can manage the timeline.

We know all those feelings that come with waiting. The frustration, angst, discouragement, hopelessness. After waiting we (our work, that is) might be rejected. Again. And again. And again. We know the drill because it’s part of our lives. For some of us we’ve waited a long time and may continue to.

Advent is a time of waiting. The name Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” Beginning each year on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (the Sunday before last), Advent commemorates the birth of Jesus and also anticipates His return. As Ann Voskamp says we are “perpetual Advent people” waiting on Christ’s return.

The Branch Gives us Hope

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;


    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1-2)

Advent is all about hope. In who is coming.

We can believe in that hope. Because He did come 2,000 years ago on that Christmas morn, born in a feed trough, son to a teenage mom and her husband.

We can believe in that hope. Because He has come to us. He is in us and we are in Him.

We can believe in that hope. Because He has told us He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). Even when our work gets rejected. Repeatedly.

He understands us. Really, truly! Because He has chosen each one of us.

"He tends His flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in His arms

and carries them close to His heart;

He gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:11 NIV)

Choose to remember Him when the enemy throws the darts of rejection or doubt at you, when he tries to take away your joy in the One we celebrate.

Draw near to Jesus as He is the most compassionate Shepherd, gathering and carrying us, His lambs, in His arms. Such a wonderful image isn't it?

I hope you are able to spend some time in the next few weeks reflecting on the hope of Advent. On Jesus. Allow His Words to “dwell in your richly.”

Wishing all of my ICFW friends a blessed Advent season full of childlike hope and anticipation.

Grace and peace,

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard won the 2013 Selah Award for Speculative Fiction. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

Waiting is Good for You. No, really!

Way back at the start of my writing journey, I naively thought it would take a month or two to sell my novel once I’d finished writing it (which I did mid-year 2005).  I scoffed at writers who only managed to sell the third or fourth book they’d penned thinking that would never be me. I laugh now when I look back – I pushed hard to finish my first book thinking that would be our source of grocery money in a month or two’s time. I know, right?! Writer friends – pick yourself up off the floor, stop sniggering and keep reading please.

The transition from that level of bright-eyed faith in my calling to the impossible hope sober reality of getting a book published broke my heart many times over. I argued with God – how can He tell me to do something, then make it impossible for me to do? I fought, pleaded, declared in faith, got my friends to agree with me, still Heaven wouldn’t budge. In those early days, the one thing He did say consistently was that I was going to have to trust Him beyond what I’d ever trusted Him before. Ouch.

Did I ever want to give up? I’d be lying if I said no, and bad things happen to people who lie so… heck yeah. And I did, many times over. And yet, here I am still writing. And the strangest part of it all? I’m grateful that my first book wasn’t published the month after I’d finished writing it. Sounds crazy, but I am grateful to the very marrow in my bones and here’s why:

1) I’ve developed a writing work ethic that doesn’t depend on the acceptance / approval of others. Its a sneaky trap for a writer – there is nothing quite like the charge we get when someone ooo’s and aaah’s over our work, or we get a request for more, or we land that freelance job – it buoys us to keep the words flowing. But I found the energy from each positive would only carry me so far and I’d be needing my next fix of approval. I need to know what is in my gut to say to the world, and be true to put my bottom in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard. Regardless of the feedback I do or do not get.

2)  My skill as a writer has grown. I’ve had time to glean and absorb, to apply and work my writing muscles.

3) I appreciate any writing gaps that I get in my busy days. I don’t scoff at a stolen 10 minutes or a forward push of 500 words. It all adds up, builds and brings your book that tiny bit closer to being finished.

4) I’m getting to know myself as a writer – who my key audience is, what I should avoid writing, where my sweet spot is, the most effective way for me to tackle a project.

5) I’ve let go of the need to manipulate God’s timing and am able to let Him help me wait graciously and productively without the tantrums and crises of faith. He gave me the gift, He will use it best in His good timing. As much as I still get the odd day of throwing toys, I know I can trust Him to help me manage my heart in the meantime.

The process of waiting is a beautiful thing. It causes our roots to dig deeper into our Source, making us less likely to wither at the first blast of a hot wind or drought. It makes us tough yet, strangely, more flexible. It prepares us for the work that is written into our DNA to do.

And so I’ve learnt to trust the process, not only for the process itself, but because I know the Author of the process.

How do you cope with waiting? I’d love to hear from you.

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Living in the Waiting

There’s a lot of waiting in this writing life. Waiting for inspiration, waiting for a new story idea, waiting for the words to show up on the page, waiting for contest results, waiting for feedback from critique partners, waiting to hear back from agents and editors, waiting for contracts and edits and book releases. Waiting to open your inbox one day and find THAT email you’ve been hoping for.

Someone asked me this week what I did with all that waiting time. The answer is pretty simple. I live.

Since I’ve started writing I’ve gone from single to married, renter to homeowner, from the person whose Saturdays involved a leisurely brunch and reading the morning paper to having a toddler jumping on the bed and being able to belt out the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song on command. Five jobs. Four house moves. More flights than I can even remember. A nephew and a niece and two more on the way. Grandparents moving into heaven.

I look back at my early years a writer. Unbridled enthusiasm with very little knowledge. Of the craft, of the industry, of anything writing related. I look back at other times when my craft had strengthened and the contest finals were starting to pile up but there were other things in my life that needed a lot of care and attention. Being exhausted as a new mum and barely able to put one foot in front of the other. Then there were the times when everything seemed to be lining up – until they weren’t.

Through all of those years, I wasn’t ready for that elusive contract for different reasons. Some of the time I knew that, sometimes I heard it the hard way via rejection but a lot of the time I thought I was ready but doors remained firmly closed despite my best efforts to force them to open. Through it all, God knew exactly what I needed and when. In the moments when I want to give up, he provides the exact encouragement I need to keep going.

Am I ready now? I don’t know. But He does. He holds in his hand whether I open my inbox to that magical email this year, this decade or not on this side of eternity. And he has never failed me yet.

Is it easy? Never. Obsessively checking emails, climbing the walls when you’re waiting on news and the days drag by, never knowing if all your hard work, time, money and dreaming will ultimately prove not to be. Watching people who started writing after you pass and then lap you as you try to remind yourself that it’s okay, your journey is not theirs. Holding on to that if this is what God has called you to do then he will make it happen and there is no amount of worry or fretting or effort to make things happen on your part that will speed up the process.

And so, in the meantime, I’ll keep on living in the waiting. How about you? How do you cope with times in life spent in the waiting room?

Seasons of Waiting

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/freedigitalphotos.net

We writers wait a lot.

I expect for most of us the production process of drafting a manuscript is an active one, however, there will be times we will be waiting for feedback from others before we proceed to the next stage.

When we’ve completed the manuscript we can expect to wait a lot. Critique groups, editors, agents, publishers all keep us waiting.

Finally a day may arrive when we have an illusive contract for that manuscript we have given so much of our heart and time to. After celebrating with our loved ones and those who’ve supported us through the journey, the publishing process commences. It takes time, typically 12 to 18 months after contract signing. There’s more editing, a cover design to create, even more edits, printing and distributing. So we wait some more.

Launch day arrives. We’re actively promoting our new baby in all manner of ways. Then we wait. For those first sales and then the first reviews.

I’ve laboured the point. But what do we do through the waiting?

Especially when none of what we wait for is a given? Will our proposal be accepted, will our editor like our work, will we make any sales and heck, what will readers think of it?

But didn’t God birth this desire in our heart?

Biblical lessons

It’s interesting how much of the Bible involves people waiting. Waiting for God to do what He said He would. Why did Moses spend 40 years herding goats in the wilderness, and Abraham 25 years before the son God promised him was born? Paul spent years in caves being transformed by the Holy Spirit before his ministry to the Gentiles commenced.

“How long, O Lord, how long?” (Psalm 6:3b)

I can’t recall how many times I’ve beseeched the Lord along similar lines through this writing life.

Why is waiting beneficial?

I’ve been studying the psalms recently and one commentator stated the authors of the Psalms, including David, wrote them in periods of waiting. Most of David’s were written when he was in exile, a fugitive on the run from King Saul, before he could step into his God-anointed role as King.

Are you in one of those frustrating seasons of waiting? Or for something else? I’d encourage you to take solace in the psalms. Waiting isn’t necessarily passive:

“It involves longing, anticipating, yearning. It is seeking. It is, in other words, the exercising of one’s desire for God.”¹

I like this quote from Jeff Goins, who recently released a book that is all about waiting: The In-Between- Embracing the Tension between the Now and the Next Big Thing.

"Moments of breakthrough are not where life’s greatest transformation happens; the stuff that God uses to shape us often lies in the in-between."

Paul's heart was shaped in the waiting as was David's.

A verse that has taken on greater prominence for me this year is Psalm 37:4-

“Take delight in the Lord,

and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Life doesn't usually stop or even slow down when we're waiting as writers. However, next time you're in a season of waiting, pause to take some time to reflect, to press in even more to the Lord, meditate on His Word and be especially grateful for all His blessings.

Who knows we might even come to enjoy the wait?

Note: 1. “Deeper Places, Experiencing God in the Psalms, Matthew Jacoby (Baker Books 2013) page 95.

Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel, Angelguard, was released recently in US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter