Waiting
I’m waiting.
Aren’t we all?
No, but I mean I’m really waiting. In a waiting room of a car dealership while the highly trained mechanics give my car the once-over. Last night I waited while my daugher ice-skated. Before that I waited for her come out of school. Earlier in the day I waited as the powers of Backspace commented on my query letter. I’m often waiting for water to boil or to hear the ding of the microwave. I wait to hear back from editors. I wait in line, on the phone and I even wait sometimes as my computer connects to the internet. When the kids I travel East in a few weeks we’ll wait to our board our flight. As writers we wait for both time and inspiration.
I guess the key is how we use our time while we’re waiting. Nothing wrong with doing nothing, I’m a big proponent of the art of relaxing. But I do have an aversion to waiting when I feel like I’m wasting time.
Like I said, I’m waiting for mechanics to check out my car. I’m also blogging. And watching Oprah. Gotta love a car dealer waiting room with a flat-screen. Last night during ice-skating I watched my daughter which is fun, but not for 45 minutes. So I also read a book.
I think that any time I’m ok doing nothing it’s not wasting time. It’s the waiting — when you’re only looking forward and not looking down and side to side and behind you — that waiting is a problem. When you’re not looking at today and you’re always looking at tomorrow.
I got stuck in my last round of writing classes because I always waited for feedback before I continued writing. I stopped taking classes and wrote and wrote and wrote. There are sometimes physically ways to manage waiting…sometimes it’s not that easy.
I waited for agent opinons of my query letter in that Backspace workshop…and I got feedback…and continued waiting. Now I’ll wait for others’ opinions of the feedback and rewrite, and then wait for more feedback.
In the meantime I’m waiting for my car, which I’ve just been told will take “a little over an hour” and cost me a little over $140.
So I’ll keep typing, watching Oprah and waiting.
How do you fill the time that you wait…and better yet…how do you feel the waiting space in your day and in your head?
I daydream. I cook up new projects. I visit some memories. I also Twitter, blog, IM and email. Which means that I probably daydream much less today than years before.
I waited in a hospital waiting room last night for THREE hours. I wanted to stick forks in my eyes and all I could think about was the amount of work I could be getting done.
Clearly, I’m not good at waiting.
I usually have a book with me but I also
people watch
call someone
think about work projects in detail
brain storm for work or home projects
day dream
rest
on a train if i’m not reading I look out the window at everything
talk to a stranger
clean out my bag
clean out my wallet
clean out my make-up bag
once in a waiting line at a large government office I changed the drab scene before my eyes into a bright and sparkling ballroom scene in France hundreds of years ago with everyone in full costume and lots of candles and period music– now that was an experience
Sometimes now I even close my eyes especially during the train ride to work and the train rocks me to sleep, almost…
Here in Mexico, it’s assumed that you will wait anytime you go anywhere. We have to pay our utilities in person, so that’s an extra wait I never had in the US. I don’t have a cell phone so that’s not an option. I usually bring a book, but every now and then I’ll get inspired and start writing something. I once wrote half a chapter on the back of my prescription sheets from the doctor, lol.
I love people watching so that takes up most of my waiting time. I like to make up stories about the people I see and imagine what their lives might be like.
I usually have to entertain my kids while I wait for anything because they’re usually with me when I wait. I have to get pretty creative to keep them from bouncing off the walls. I love going to the doctor’s or dentist’s so I can catch up on the latest trashy magazines that I won’t buy for myself. Like someone else mentioned, people watching is also a great pass-time, especially at a train-station or airport! If I’m at home, I spend most of the time either writing, reading, or researching…while I wait for dinner to cook, the laundry to wash, or for the kids to come in from playing in the snow!
Waiting is sometimes just downtime for me, sometimes I play sudoku on my cell phone, and sometimes, like last night, I just go nuts!
I daydream, I people watch, I sing songs in my head, and sometimes I catnap. I can fall asleep standing up.
Sometimes I am just a little disappointed when the wait is over.
Hi, Amy, tapping in from Angie’s site.
Here, oddly enough they have weekly ‘ladies night’ mechanic work at auto repair shops. They give free mani and pedicures and have a T.V. Latte etc… But, I’ve never tried as my hubby does most of my auto mechanic.
How do I wait? Funny you should ask!
Not the same kind of waiting, but between this being Advent and my being 39 weeks pregnant, waiting is on my mind a lot – two of my blog posts from the past week have that word in the title actually, if you want to come by. 
Waiting. Hmmm. Let’s see. What do I think about waiting? I’m waiting to come up with something good here. Waiting for inspiration. Still waiting. Waiting some more. Nope, nothing.
Like Tom Petty says, “The Waiting is the Hardest Part.” My biggest wait time is three to four times a week for the 35 minutes I’m on the treadmill. Hate it. Do it. Can’t wait til it’s over. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes I watch “Millionaire” or CNN, but mostly I hum songs in my head and watch the seconds go down. I hate that damn treadmill.
I usually keep busy while waiting at home – writing, reading, walking. Away from home, waits are accepted graciously, a time to slow down, process, people watch, that sort of thing.
I usually have something with me to read and paper for writing stray thoughts. Sometimes short waits get me into making lists or writing poems. Hate having nothing to do…but besides all that…I’m WAITING to hear what Backspace said!
I imagine.
I spend the time “living” in my story world.
Right now I’m waiting to hear about a friend who is in labor, but I’m sure you don’t mean that kind of waiting!
The rest of the time I make sure to always have a book and a notebook with me. That way I can either read or do some writing. I’ve written some great blogposts while waiting for something to happen. Of course, now that I have a BlackBerry I’m spending some of that waiting time Tweeting with my Twitter pals like you!
I usually have a book – I’m frightened to leave the house without a book! I often have a notebook but unless it’s a very long wait, I tend not to write much other than keyword scribbles.
My son plays games on my cell phone.
I bring a book and read. I have a basic cell phone without internet and insufficient time away from home to justify the expense of mobile internet service. If there is a parking lot (which is rare even in the outer boroughs of NYC) I might bring my laptop, especially if I know the place has wi-fi (and even if it doesn’t I can edit a text I’m working on offline), but I won’t shlep the laptop on the subway or if I’m walking unless I’m working on deadline.
I people-watch, and make up stories about them in my head.