Hi everyone,

I normally consider myself a very patient person.  I don’t mind waiting for a lot of things.  I don’t mind waiting in line, I don’t mind waiting at a red light, and I don’t even mind waiting on hold all that much.

However, waiting to hear back from someone who is reading your work is agonizing.  I can’t figure out why.

We wait so often in this game called publishing.  At first we wait with our hearts in our throats for the reaction of that special person we trust to read our early writing efforts.  You can’t seem to breathe right, your palms sweat.  What if they don’t like it?  Am I kidding myself that I can do this?  What if it’s nothing but junk?  Minutes can feel like eons waiting for that first response.

That is a terrible wait.  Oh, but the joy doesn’t end there.  Eventually we branch out.  Then we wait for comments on fan fiction forums validating our ability to tell a story.  We hit refresh like it’s the trigger on a slot machine and hunger for a new response.

Then we wait for critique partners, beta readers and mentors.  We wait for feedback that will help hone our stories, illuminate the concepts we just can’t seem to get a firm grasp on.  We wait for contests, first we wait for the feedback, then we wait for victory and that chance we’ve been waiting for all along, a read from an agent or editor.

Oh, and let’s go ahead and ponder the agony of that wait.  That’s when dreams really do seem to hang in the balance, and during the whole time you wait, you wonder, “Is this it?  Will this be my break?”

Then you get the call, but the waiting doesn’t end there.  You wait for revision letters, hoping you didn’t let your editor down. You wait for cover art, hoping your cover will make you sing from the mountaintops, not wallow in a tub of chocolate frozen custard.  You wait for reviews, hoping against all hope that you won’t be cut down at the knees when you’re struggling so hard to keep climbing.

You wait for new contracts, new chances.

But most of all you wait for readers, wait for the day someone lets you know the liked what you wrote, and hope you write more.

That makes all the waiting worth it.

I’d like to thank the readers of Paranormal Romance for making Beyond the Rain a Pearl finalist.  I am so honored I’m speechless.  I’m in awe of the other finalists, Susan Grant, Linnea Sinclair, and Catherine Asaro, women I have admired for years.  The wait to see who wins isn’t going to be hard, because I already feel I’ve been blessed.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Jess Granger