Had a great FB conversation with a friend and editor I’ve known for a long time. Recently several articles and Twitter threads have come out from editors and agents talking about how hard 2020 was on them, how many projects were put on hold, how hard it’s been to dig out from under the backlog of projects and submissions, and just generally talking about their struggles. We discussed a couple of articles and posts including this Q&A with agent, Jennifer Laughran and several recent social media posts from overwhelmed editors.
At the same time, I’ve heard from tons of authors who struggled to meet deadlines last year, who had books debut during the middle of Covid to much lower than expected numbers, or who couldn’t make their brains function enough to even write most of the time.
For many who spent more than a year, holed up in our houses, watching the news of deaths and sickness every day, it was hard not to feel super isolated and alone. One of the weirdest things I experienced was doing events that I knew were virtual, but when I actually saw everyone watching and presenting from their bedrooms or offices it struck me that mentally I had envisioned the event taking place in a real location without me. I couldn’t grasp that the whole world had been put on hold too.
It’s like we knew everyone else was in the same position as us, but emotionally it was hard to understand that. And because of this, we were frustrated when prices went up, shipping took forever, projects got delayed, responses were slower, and things just generally stunk. The worst part of it was that people who were dealing with the exact same things took the brunt of this frustration.
Essential workers from health care professionals to fast food workers to delivery people to store employees received constant criticism when they were suffering at least as much as anyone else and had no choice but to be in the middle of it all.
Agents and editors got a double whammy. They were not only working from home dealing with the same issues as everyone else, most of them were in big cities where the effects were exponentially worse, they were dealing with publishers who had to delay lots of books, and authors whose books had suddenly lost most of their marketing. On top of that, their submissions were going through the roof, because everyone stuck at home was writing books.
Hopefully things are beginning to improve, but it isn’t an overnight process. A year of mental, emotional, and economic turmoil doesn’t turn around overnight. Almost all of the arts are digging out from under their backlogs, prices are up on everything from rental cars to gas to tech to used cars to hotels to–you get the picture. Companies are recovering and people are too.
I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but I guess what I am saying is that when you are frustrated and overwhelmed and emotional, remember that everyone else is too. We got through a year of isolation together, let’s get through a year of recovery together. Give the people you work with, live with, and interact with a little more time, a little more patience, a little more slack, a little more understanding, and a little more love.
We can do this.
2 Comments
I think patience is something we could all use a little more practice with. Or at least that’s true for me. And I think it’s more important than ever for us to put our money where our mouth is. I’ve made a goal to buy and read more books from small and indie publishers, and diversify my spending with more small businesses. As people said when this whole mess began, we are all in this together.
Yes. And what makes it especially hard is that everything from content on demand, to instant social media responses, to 24-7 news and sports is training us not to be patient. I love fast delivery as much as anyone else, but I sort of miss the days when we took our time.