Delayed Gratification...

As part of the writing life. This, I think, is the part of the writing life that doesn't get readily understood by most of the fans (or others) who ask me about the writing life. There is just about no business in the world that is slower than publishing. Forget about how long it takes to write a novel -- once it is written and you have an agent (which I have never had) and you have a publisher (which I do have) you still have a year or more to wait before you see a copy of the book. Longer, much longer, to see royalties.

The short story market is faster. The stories take less time to write, and the acceptance or rejection comes back in a month or two or three. Publication usually follows soon (relatively speaking) after. A few months.