Alison Gaylin, over on the First Offenders' Blog wrote in that linked entry about how easy it is to slip into thinking negatively whenever there's a gap of time between when she's handed something in... and is waiting for that response. Given the short amount of time, she was a little self-deprecating about how anxious she'd ended up feeling, but I completely empathize.
I once drove over to hand a friend a script, drove home (all five minutes of drive time), and then sat. And waited. Did I go do something useful? Feed the kids? Prevent the dog from destroying the living room? Put out the bread burning in the oven? Nope. Well, I ended up doing the latter, but it was more inadvertent because I was opening it to consider how quick would death-by-electric-oven be, because the waiting was horrendous. I was going nuts, worried about what she thought.
It had been, maybe, twenty minutes.
I'd like to say I'm much better now.
I'd be lying.
The only difference is that now, I'm aware that it's beyond a little nutty to expect anything back from anyone who reads it that fast because, now brace yourselvs, THE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND ME. I know, freaky, huh? Are you going to be okay? Do you need a drink of water? I'll wait....
Back? Still feeling fuzzy? I know, it's really shocking news, and I gotta tell you, I'm a bit flabbergasted, too, but there you go.
My friends, bless them, have not conspired to stab me over this annoying paranoia and have, instead, been very kind and read as quickly as they can. They may be hiring Guido for this next round, though, when I give them the book to proofread for me (next month), since a book is far more to read than a script, and I'll be sitting there, pressing my face on their windows, tapping "Open, open, open," on their IM boxes or e-mails. Luckily, I run faster than most of them.
Of course, I'm not entirely sure I can run faster than Guido, so maybe I'll find something to occupy my time while I'm waiting.
Other than oven cleaning. Wouldn't want to get too tempted there.
Posted by toni at October 24, 2005 06:39 PM