Rapid response

Sometimes we complain about response times from certain markets. We send out our stories and wait three months, six months…longer. Some novel markets have response times better measured in years than months.

Then there’s the other side of the coin. I sent out my most recent short story on Sunday and got the response back two hours later—a rejection. If it had been a story that I’d previously circulated, it probably wouldn’t felt like…rejection, but this was my first new work of 2007 and I had a) written it specifically for that market and b) finished it just an hour or so before submitting it. I would have felt better if they’d sat on their response for at least a day!

Ah, well—I found another potential market and sent it straight back out again. The new market has a reported turnaround time of around 60 days, and perhaps as long as six months. I don’t mind. I hope they take their time.

I received my contract for “Rule Number One” tonight. That’s the story that will be in Blue Religion, the MWA anthology edited by Michael Connelly. I still haven’t received any editorial feedback, but the gears are grinding toward publication.