Sometimes it is hard to follow the old adage to submit and forget. The truth is, I’ve been known to check my e-mail about a hundred times a day, and more than once I have run to the mailbox only seconds after the mail carrier’s truck has pulled away. But really, writing should be like the infomercial where they shout, “Fix It and Forget It!” Recently, I learned again just how valuable it is to keep on writing and forget about submissions that are in the hands of editors.

A few weeks ago I answered the phone and learned that I had sold my middle grade adventure series. I often wondered what that call might feel like but, until it happened, I never thought about what life would look like under contract. After the initial excitement leveled off, I realized I had a lot of work ahead of me. Fortunately, I had “forgotten” about my submission and had been hard at work.

In the two years between sending my manuscript to the publisher and the phone call last month (yes, there’s a story there, too!), I had kept busy: I revised the first novel, had it reviewed at a writer’s retreat, joined a critique group and subsequently revised it again. I also continued to build my credits as a writer and laid the groundwork for marketing with a presence in print and on the Web.

In other words, when I finally received the call accepting my fiction series, I was ready for it to happen. Now I can focus on writing the next few books in the series and on the important task of marketing, and I can keep writing and building an audience for my work. As a bonus, because I’ve kept my head down and my fingers typing, I’ve had plenty of success with other projects. So instead of this call being the one I fixed my hopes on, it turns out to be the icing on an already successful career. And of course that means I have no time to run for the mail or jump when the phone rings because I’m so busy writing!

Lisa Tiffin is a freelance writer from Upstate New York. Her work has appeared in many writing, education and green living magazines. She is happy to announce that Theft of the Star Tracker, the first book in her Eagle Ridge Prep Series, will come out in May 2010. Find out more at www.lisatiffin.com.

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