Patience is a Virtue?

It doesn't pay to submit your work and expect a quick response. We can check email once per hour, but that doesn't speed up the average editor. Even when we inquire, we don't always get an answer. We must learn patience.

I think, with patience, we also need persistence. Keep after that slow editor and keep submitting your work. I mentioned this before, I have four poems showing up in ezines for the month of July. I also have three that were submitted in April and I'm still waiting to hear. I just submitted another five to a print quarterly the other day. I have a couple more places I where I want to submit in the future.

As you write, think about which pieces are worthy of submission. This will save you a lot of time when you find a call for submission. As long as the pieces are in keeping with the image of the publication, you'll be half-prepared. Being prepared helps us to avoid procrastination and not submitting at all.

So, go a few hours without checking that email. The next time you check that darned email, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.