What do you do while awaiting a publisher?

I am now in an unenviable position -- waiting.  Waiting is not something we humans enjoy.  In fact, we hate waiting.  We don't like to wait in line; wait for a check; wait for a date; wait for a job; wait for news from the doctor; wait for our child's report card; wait for our birthday.  We encourage our kids to be patient, but we are often poor examples of patience.

So now that I have an agent (hooray) I am once again waiting.  The book itself took over six years to write.  So I should have learned patience by now, one would think!  I'm still learning, and not very well.  I read a very insightful blog the other day, and have taken that advice to heart.  Actually, the advice was about what to do if you queries are being rejected, which isn't my situation at the moment.  But the advice was this:  keep querying; self publish; write another book (Rachelle Gardner, Books and Such).

I don't need to keep querying, as my agent is working on finding a publisher.  I don't want to self-publish.  So, I'm starting my next book.  And I'm getting excited about it already.  I'll carry over some of the characters, and actually both story-lines.  But the bulk of the action will be in the U.S., and the setting is the War of 1812.

So today I picked up several books in my campus library.  I'll spend the next 6-12 months reading and researching, and then begin what I may call . . . Legacy.

Any other ideas about what to do while waiting for a publisher??

Stay tuned.