{"id":5576,"date":"2016-09-05T13:24:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T03:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?p=5576"},"modified":"2020-08-04T11:30:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T01:30:13","slug":"in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/","title":{"rendered":"In the quiet time: the art of active waiting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A.L.Last week was a crazy-busy flurry of activity. I spent three days in the Big Smoke for Book Week appearances, and met some 800+ kids in the process.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday I went to the Hogwarts-like grandeur of the International College Of Management for the Lunch With The Stars, put on by the amazing members of the Northern Sydney Sub-branch of the CBCA.<\/p>\n

Favourite question of the day: “Do your own kids like your books?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Wednesday saw me at Westfields Sports High School talking writing with a great bunch of kids from years 7 and 8.<\/p>\n

Favourite question of the day: “Did you type those books on manual typewriters?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On Thursday, I did four sessions with the fabulous primary school students at Casula Public School, as part of The Story Crowd<\/a> Literature Festival.<\/p>\n

Favourite question of the day: “Are you older or younger than you look?”<\/em><\/p>\n

And now I’m back home, in the quiet time. I completed one edit before I left and I’m waiting for a new set of notes to arrive for a different project (which I’m looking forward to sharing with you soon).<\/p>\n

So, what do I do while I wait?<\/p>\n

This week, I’m teaching, researching a freelance story, and continuing to work for social media clients. I’m also clearing out my office, creating the space I’ll need to think about my new project, and cleaning up the back end of my website, organising my posts and making them as easy as possible to find. I’m reading new books, and re-reading old ones, and trying to learn as much as I can about screenwriting for another upcoming project.<\/p>\n

In short, I’m actively waiting.<\/p>\n

I have no idea if ‘active waiting’ is an actual thing, but I really recommend it. As a writer, you spend so much of your life waiting on one thing or another, that if you don’t use the time as wisely as possible, you end up wasting vast chunks of your life feverishly checking emails or just hanging about on tenterhooks.<\/p>\n

So, if you need me, I’ll be over here, buried under a Quiet To Do List.<\/p>\n

Are you waiting on something? What do you do to fill the time?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week was a crazy-busy flurry of activity. I spent three days in the Big Smoke for Book Week appearances, and met some 800+ kids in the process. On Tuesday I went to the Hogwarts-like grandeur of the International College Of Management for the Lunch With The Stars, put on by the amazing members of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[706],"tags":[714,712,711,707],"class_list":["post-5576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-author-life","tag-book-week","tag-childrens-author-tips","tag-the-mapmaker-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"\nThe quiet time: the art of active waiting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is active waiting? Being a writer involves an awful lot of waiting. Allison Tait explains how to make the most of that time with active waiting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The quiet time: the art of active waiting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is active waiting? Being a writer involves an awful lot of waiting. Allison Tait explains how to make the most of that time with active waiting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Allison Tait Author\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-05T03:24:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-04T01:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allison Tait\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allison Tait\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allison Tait\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46\"},\"headline\":\"In the quiet time: the art of active waiting\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-05T03:24:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-04T01:30:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\"},\"wordCount\":381,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"author life\",\"Book Week\",\"children's author tips\",\"The Mapmaker Chronicles\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\",\"name\":\"The quiet time: the art of active waiting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-05T03:24:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-04T01:30:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is active waiting? Being a writer involves an awful lot of waiting. Allison Tait explains how to make the most of that time with active waiting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In the quiet time: the art of active waiting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait Author\",\"description\":\"Adventure, Mystery, Almost History\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait | Author\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":286,\"caption\":\"Allison Tait | Author\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/allisontaitwriter\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46\",\"name\":\"Allison Tait\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Allison Tait\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/author\/altait\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The quiet time: the art of active waiting","description":"What is active waiting? Being a writer involves an awful lot of waiting. Allison Tait explains how to make the most of that time with active waiting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The quiet time: the art of active waiting","og_description":"What is active waiting? Being a writer involves an awful lot of waiting. Allison Tait explains how to make the most of that time with active waiting.","og_url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/","og_site_name":"Allison Tait Author","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter","article_published_time":"2016-09-05T03:24:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-04T01:30:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Allison Tait","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Allison Tait","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/"},"author":{"name":"Allison Tait","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46"},"headline":"In the quiet time: the art of active waiting","datePublished":"2016-09-05T03:24:09+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-04T01:30:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/"},"wordCount":381,"commentCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg","keywords":["author life","Book Week","children's author tips","The Mapmaker Chronicles"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/","name":"The quiet time: the art of active waiting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-05T03:24:09+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-04T01:30:13+00:00","description":"What is active waiting? Being a writer involves an awful lot of waiting. Allison Tait explains how to make the most of that time with active waiting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/IMG_5657.jpg","width":640,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2016\/09\/in-the-quiet-time-the-art-of-active-waiting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In the quiet time: the art of active waiting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/","name":"Allison Tait Author","description":"Adventure, Mystery, Almost History","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#organization","name":"Allison Tait | Author","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/logo_sm1.png","width":600,"height":286,"caption":"Allison Tait | Author"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AllisonTaitWriter","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/allisontaitwriter\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/277afd61b41e1b23d976e1ae2f09cf46","name":"Allison Tait","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4dfb414ad67df8aa68d6a62bc02c6ba2a7f718fd8f98b9b00f49451ae17f246?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Allison Tait"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/allisontait.com"],"url":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/author\/altait\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}