Next comes the Hard Waiting Time Game.
I have been waiting for news on five poetry submissions for over 130 days. I know that's long without sending a query, but at the time of submitting to this journal I read on their guidelines that it could take up to 4 months before hearing from them. I keep checking my Submittable account and it still says "In Progress" so I'm not going to sweat that one just yet.
In the meantime, I should be hearing back in a few weeks about a major submission of a flash story to a well-known publication. I sent them my flash story "The ABC's of the Apocalypse" awhile back and got the news a month ago that the story made it through their first round of reading and was kicked up to the editor. The email said to expect a wait time (Hard Waiting Time Game Level 2) of about 8 weeks, so I should be hearing something about this one over the next week or so.
I have other submissions in elsewhere and looking to put some more through over the Easter weekend.
Just like gamblers say, especially about the lottery: "You can't win if you don't play," this modified adage holds true for writers: "You can't get published if you don't send it in." And I would add that you need to be patient. Getting published is a waiting game. Write, submit, be patient, and persevere.