You’ve heard the old saw, “Good things come to those who wait.” And of course, bad things as well. “Good” and “Bad” are matters of perspective. Something happened late last month that I consider very bad. However, it may lead to good things eventually, perhaps even better than matters would otherwise be. I just don’t know. Time and perspective are required, so I’ll wait for both, in the sense that I’m paying attention for when they arrive. In the meantime, I’m not waiting for anything. I’m doing my job and trying to accomplish things I consider important, so perhaps when more time and perspective have arrived, I’ll be ready for them.

That’s the key, of course—it’s not about waiting. It’s about being prepared. Doing your work, no matter what else may be going on in your life. Sowing the fields. And while you’re busy not waiting, crops can suddenly appear. Within the last week I’ve sold one new story and given permission for two reprints: one for production as a podcast and another for reprint in a new Mammoth anthology. More details when everything is set and ironed out. The new story is called “The Manor of Lost Time,” and, pending editorial approval of some relatively small revisions, it’ll be published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies, probably in late spring.

None of which would have happened if the work hadn’t already been done. I’ve told this before but it certainly applies here–I remember when one of our old writing group comrades, then still unpublished, was marveling at those of us who were selling—sporadically, sure, but selling—“Any day you check your email or go to the post office, something good might come to you.” When I pointed out that, on any given day, it was more likely that nothing at all would happen, she rightly dismissed that. “But it might. I can’t imagine what that’s like.” I understood what she meant, since I’d been on the other side too for a lot of years. Yet even then you’re laying the foundation, plowing the fields. Preparing for what may yet arrive.

Now and then, you get a sprout. But not if all you do is wait.