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Middling It
- Thread starter Project Deadlight
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Not really middling, but is anyone else playing slush roulette right now with McSweeney's? I'm at 222 days, still "Received" on Submishmash, and watching the responses come in from 25 days to 297. Randomly, it seems. They closed to submissions to catch up, so I guess they just decided to catch up here and there?
Nothing to do but wait, and hope I do not end up in the "No Response" statistic on Duotrope. Anybody else chewing their nails?
Nothing to do but wait, and hope I do not end up in the "No Response" statistic on Duotrope. Anybody else chewing their nails?
Bump to third round at ASIM. That's four shortlists I'm on at the moment, along with some nursing home crickets. My poor fingernails...
According to my rejectomancy skills this should be either a very good week or a very painful week. Either way, I anticipate finally hearing back from a bunch of places after a very quiet couple of weeks.
Same here, Alex. I've got 10 or 11 submissions that could receive a response any day now, many of which are overdue. Best of luck.
Thanks, Michael, and same to you. I called it; 2 rejections showed up today. Bracing for more responses soon!
Interesting but not surprising heir print response times are significantly slower than their online response times.
I've got a couple out right now that I'm starting to wonder about.
I have something much younger at McSweeney's, 40 days, but I have something at another lit. journal which is driving me mad: I'm at 130 days, and they're pumping out 14 day Rs at the moment... I feel your pain!!!
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Mike Davis at the Lovecraft ezine emailed me back today about my query for a 120 day-old story. 4 months isn't all that long of a wait, but I queried anyway and he replied very promptly...and then again two weeks later. He sent me a very encouraging rejection two weeks ago telling me he would love to see more of my work. But he also emailed me today, telling me my story is still in the queue. So now I'm confused and...blarg.
This is a blarg kind of day.
This is a blarg kind of day.
Marz invented rejectobrags, I'm now inventing Middlobrags.
Just had my first ever conversation with a literary agent who is interested in reading one of my works in progress!! A really encouraging phone call as she is excited by my outline and the short story the novel is based on.
Just had my first ever conversation with a literary agent who is interested in reading one of my works in progress!! A really encouraging phone call as she is excited by my outline and the short story the novel is based on.
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Unusual indeed, Niccolo. That would leave me scratching my head, for sure. Maybe worth another query 2-4 weeks if you haven't heard anything more definite?
Project Deadlight - great middling news!! Best of luck with the pitch!
Project Deadlight - great middling news!! Best of luck with the pitch!
Fabulous! I hope it works out - thinking it might be the award-winning short story? An actual phone call is great, too!
Niccolo - yes - I agree with Eliza. Especially if they don't allow sim subs, so that you can freely send it elsewhere.
Thanks guys. Fihr and O'D you are right, it is that story and that agent. I got really good vibes off said agent on the phone about the extended outline I sent over so now I just have to write the thing... It's a weird situation to have an agent having input right from the start as they want to see it at the first three chapters stage before it's even complete! :O
I'm itching to query the lit mag that's been driving me mad although part of me may also be too chicken. The submission was through Submittable; do I query through that, do you think, or should I use e-mail? There are no instructions on their site. Any advice? Thanks!
Hi there,
I don't want to jinx it by naming it (every time I do that, I seem to get an R the next day!), but I'm currently at 138 days, in progress for about 100 of those, and the "okay to query" magic number is 90. They've been sending out Rs from the teens to 100+ days for the last few weeks, seemingly randomly. It is already sim subbed elsewhere, so I probably shouldn't be so antsy.
Good luck with it, I could probably tell you more if I knew the journal but sounds promising!
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Pseudopod got back to me today on my query. Not too long of a wait, but I'm the impatient type. The story has been passed up to the editor by the first reader, who said he loved it. 
So now I'm in a state somewhere between excitement and fear. So very impatient.
So now I'm in a state somewhere between excitement and fear. So very impatient.
Good luck, Niccolo!
Does anyone know if Buzzy does second-round emails? I'm thinking they do not, but I don't have much experience with them. My sub has outlasted dozens of responses in the past few days, up to 28 days longer in a few cases, so the prickle of anxiety has set in.
Does anyone know if Buzzy does second-round emails? I'm thinking they do not, but I don't have much experience with them. My sub has outlasted dozens of responses in the past few days, up to 28 days longer in a few cases, so the prickle of anxiety has set in.
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Pseudopod got back to me today on my query. Not too long of a wait, but I'm the impatient type. The story has been passed up to the editor by the first reader, who said he loved it.
Good luck! Just curious as I have a sub there that's nearing 60-days - at what point did you query?
O'Dandelo - I've never made it to 2nd round at Bzzy, but I did have a sub lost there once. They got back to me about 2 weeks after my query to say it had been rejected weeks before. Not saying that's the case for you! and hoping yours has been passed up - just a caution that you might want to query after the expected response time has passed.