I remember when I worked for a publisher in author relations and our top authors would complain about the time it took to get input on their manuscript after handing it in. It might take a week or two for an author to know what a publisher was thinking. And these were the biggest and best authors out there. For most authors, it takes a lot longer to hear input. And that’s just from the publisher. 

Watching American Idol tonight, I wish that it could be as simple as that. Singing a three or four-minute song and then hearing input. “That was brilliant.” “Absolutely horrible.” “What were you thinking?” But you never get that with a manuscript. And that’s because it can take hours to read a manuscript. And hours always means days, even weeks. That’s just the way things are in our busy Twittering worlds, and something that all writers have to get used to. 

But wouldn’t it be cool? There’s your 400-page manuscript and the judges peruse it for a few moments and then give you their comments. 

And then the audience erupts in wild applause. 

Yeah, that’s another thing. There’s never any applause being a writer. Unless you’re J.K. Rowling.