Slush Slush Slush

When I sent "First Waltz" to Neo-Opsis, their email response indicated it was submission #1053.

Wow.

I mean, they're small press and probably not at the top of most writers' submission lists (which is too bad; they're a lovely mag), yet they're getting around 2 submissions per day. ASIM is up to 4100. Message boards indicate the pro mags get several hundred submissions per month.

So I've been wondering, as magazine editors/slush readers, how do you do it? How do you keep from becoming jaded? How do you look at each submission with brand new eyes and let it stand on its own merit? I can barely keep up with my OWW crits, and sometimes, making it through a submission feels like chewing on sand. And it's not that the OWW stories are all bad. I'm just jaded. I've read sooo much...

In short, thinking about all this has given me a new respect for slush readers. As a wannabe writer, it's easy to think of them as The Enemy. But they're not. They're just normal people who read Way Too Many Words. Getting a story past them is doing them a favor. Perhaps it's like that rare and wonderful moment when I do a happy dance because the story I read on OWW grabbed me and wouldn't let go. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does... *sigh*... what a relief!

One Good Thing, One Bad Thing

Good Thing: I got a phat raise and my boss says he's very, very happy with me. I'm now, officially, one of the top-paid female professionals in the Central Valley. That's not saying much though, because this place is a little cesspool of economic repression. Still, I'm very thankful, and it's more than enough to pay for my monthly DVD fix. Next up: Buffy Season 4.

Bad Thing: The monthly Days of Darkness encroach, so I ate the city of Modesto today. Now I'm stuffed and headachy and I wish I'd at least left North End (the section with the Mall) well enough alone.