I'm not talking about the one barstool that's empty at 2AM on the second-to-last night of the conference where you get symmetrical earfuls about how it's all going to hell and I was the guy who turned down Da Vinci Code.
It's that gap that your story falls into when the editor of the market you've sent it to leaves.
Agh!
I sent One Sunday in Kentucky off to Clarkesworld at the end of May, waited the requisite 50 days for a response (72, to be precise) and discovered upon my query that Senior Editor Nick Mamatas had split the scene effective July 1. I don't know whether Sean Wallace is his replacement, because the submission guidelines back in May directed all submissions to Nick, so I didn't check the masthead. Maybe Sean was always there. Clarkesworld is is now temporarily closed to unsolicited submissions.
Which means that my piece is most likely In The Queue. It might have been read. It might not have been read. Maybe Nick read it. Maybe Sean is about to. I don't know.
All of which teaches me to be a bit more active with my submissions, instead of just sending them out and waiting. Not that I necessarily would have been able to do anything had I known that the editor I submitted to was leaving, but I wouldn't have been caught unawares, which would have made me feel clever and on top of things instead of cold and afraid in the dark waiting for them to break through the gates and eat my eyeballs.
Huh. No idea where that came from.
Anyway. I learn, too, that I really ought be to be reading the markets I submit to on a much more regular basis, because if I don't, I miss things, and that's not good for anyone, is it? Clarkesworld is one of those pro-payscale non-simultaneous submission style venues, so if I want Sunday to have a shot I'll just have to sit here quietly. I did query Sean as to status, which will either result in reminding him about that awesome story by that guy in California or a rejection of Ragnarokian ferocity.
Or, perhaps, something somewhere in between those two possibilities, but it's best to be Manichean about these things.
AND THEN:
The middle thing happened!
Neil Clarke (as in, the Publisher of Clarkesworld) writes:
It's that gap that your story falls into when the editor of the market you've sent it to leaves.
Agh!
I sent One Sunday in Kentucky off to Clarkesworld at the end of May, waited the requisite 50 days for a response (72, to be precise) and discovered upon my query that Senior Editor Nick Mamatas had split the scene effective July 1. I don't know whether Sean Wallace is his replacement, because the submission guidelines back in May directed all submissions to Nick, so I didn't check the masthead. Maybe Sean was always there. Clarkesworld is is now temporarily closed to unsolicited submissions.
Which means that my piece is most likely In The Queue. It might have been read. It might not have been read. Maybe Nick read it. Maybe Sean is about to. I don't know.
All of which teaches me to be a bit more active with my submissions, instead of just sending them out and waiting. Not that I necessarily would have been able to do anything had I known that the editor I submitted to was leaving, but I wouldn't have been caught unawares, which would have made me feel clever and on top of things instead of cold and afraid in the dark waiting for them to break through the gates and eat my eyeballs.
Huh. No idea where that came from.
Anyway. I learn, too, that I really ought be to be reading the markets I submit to on a much more regular basis, because if I don't, I miss things, and that's not good for anyone, is it? Clarkesworld is one of those pro-payscale non-simultaneous submission style venues, so if I want Sunday to have a shot I'll just have to sit here quietly. I did query Sean as to status, which will either result in reminding him about that awesome story by that guy in California or a rejection of Ragnarokian ferocity.
Or, perhaps, something somewhere in between those two possibilities, but it's best to be Manichean about these things.
AND THEN:
The middle thing happened!
Neil Clarke (as in, the Publisher of Clarkesworld) writes:
Caught your post thanks to a Google Alert.See, now that's how you do things, being all plugged in to what's going on and so forth. Neil commented here about half an hour after I posted this.
My apologies. Your story is still in the queue. We hope to be completely caught up with the slush Nick left us with by the end of the month.
Sean has been with Clarkesworld from the beginning. He handles the "by invitation" submissions and Nick handled the slush. You can expect an announcement about that vacant editor position sometime in the next week, two at tops.
In the meantime, anyone who wishes to pull their story from consideration can drop me an email at books(at)clarkesworld.com. Given how long some people have been waiting, I'd consider that perfectly understandable.
Caught your post thanks to a Google Alert.
My apologies. Your story is still in the queue. We hope to be completely caught up with the slush Nick left us with by the end of the month.
Sean has been with Clarkesworld from the beginning. He handles the "by invitation" submissions and Nick handled the slush. You can expect an announcement about that vacant editor position sometime in the next week, two at tops.
In the meantime, anyone who wishes to pull their story from consideration can drop me an email at books(at)clarkesworld.com. Given how long some people have been waiting, I'd consider that perfectly understandable.
Sincerely,
Neil Clarke
Publisher, Clarkesworld Magazine
Many thanks for checking in, Neil. I appreciate it. I'll leave the story right where it is until it's been de-queued, one way or the other.
Golly, I think I like that Neil Clarke, Publisher of Clarkesworld Magazine.