...waiting for the rod to load is the hardest part..

Bingo! For your basic single/double spey/circleor Snap T and a couple of others this is exactly the case. What you want to do is watch your 'anchor.' Usually your leader if your at 12 feet or over. Leave too much line on the water/excessive 'anchor,' and you get what's called "the blood L." Think dragging a bucket out of the water.

As your forming your 'D' loop (actually, if you're doing it right it's actually a 'V' loop) and as the tip of your fly line comes out of the water, this is when you do your forward 'wrist snap.'

The most important part of the cast is the wrist snap/stop the rod tip at 10 o'clock; this is re-loading your rod from the bottom up. This is what gives a spey cast it distance. (Side Bar: it really is a wrist snap - think hitting a punching bag - NOT thrusting you upper arm forward.)

Several casts, such as the snake roll, are very dynamic (sp?) in nature. Here, INCREASING rod speed is what gives you the cast as you form the 'd' loop and come forward for the 'wrist snap.'

Back to 'the bloody L' for a moment. Yes, we all have a tendency to set our anchor (or 'pick' if you wish) too far down stream on occation. Solution for this is rather simple .... AIM farther down stream with this cast. Point being your (to the degree possible) aiming your cast over the forward part of the 'anchor.'