It is not easy waiting for your favourite author to bring out their next book.

After binge reading all their books, fangirling them by email and social media, all you can do is sit and wait for their next offering.

This agonising waiting period will involve some serious finger drumming, a lot of social media stalking and you forcing yourself to enjoy other books…written by other authors – gasp!

You will find yourself saying things like “how long does it take to write a book eh?” and “what is she / he doing…seriously it has been MONTHS!” 

And then that empty feeling inside you sets in. It is going to be a long and cruel wait.

Your literary pain will intensify when your favourite author sends you a newsletter with either a small taster of their next book. For noting: their next book will sound AMAZING and may even leave you gasping.

Or they let you know that they will have some important news on their book very soon – can someone actually define this time period?

I get that these newsletters are an important marketing tool, but they can be torturous to an author’s biggest fan.

Here is how to have patience during this challenging time:

1. Have faith in your favourite author and their book writing abilities. They will deliver on that next book!
2. Don’t believe everything you read on social media. Just because their Twitter feed gives you the impression they are enjoying themselves / not writing their next book, it probably isn’t true. They will be beavering away behind the scenes…on that relaxing beach holiday! Sigh.
3. Focus on that special day in the future when their next book is launched. All your literary pain and suffering will go away in an instant as you log onto Amazon and see their next book twinkling at you.
4. A regular tweet or two might not be a bad idea. It lets them know their reading fans are getting eager for their book and might encourage them to get a wriggle on!  Add some appropriate hashtags like #hurryup and #getoffthatsunloungerandwrite
5. Writing a book is hard so go easy on your favourite author. You only have to look at the tweets on Twitter under the #Writer hashtag to get an indication of how hard it is.
6. It’s tough being an author these days. Have some sympathy and try to picture them tearing themselves away from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Netflix to write their next book.
7. Don’t think about stuff like whether or not their next book will be the last in the series or whether this next book will need a sequel. These things will just make your  book misery worse.
8. Try not to dwell on things like which characters will die in the next book and which characters will start a steamy romance. All will be revealed in due course.
9. Put as much pressure as you can on your book club for getting your fav author’s book read. This will give you a wonderful opportunity to read their book again. Let’s hope none of your fellow book club members disagree with you on the quality of your fav author’s book.
10. Hunt out fan fiction if available or write some yourself!  Rewrite those romance scenes that didn’t live up to your expectations or those fight scenes where the wrong character died. All of this will keep your literary love alive.
11. Reassure yourself with the following – your favourite author is taking their time to write you an amazing and brilliant book. Good things come to those who wait!

Take it easy and be patient!

Have a great day!