My Blue Muse Writing Life
P.J.Taylor  

September 28, 2004

Mail Time

The envelope’s telltale tri-fold crease facedown. From my stairs, I can tell if it’s thick or thin. Thin is bad—so thin you can see the carpet through it. Slim hope there’s a bit of blue ink, some hint of promising words that I should try again. And if there is, then how long to wait until I send work to them again. 6 months sounds about right, but will they remember me then. So I suppose “what the hell” and send more work out much sooner. Thick tells you less. Yeah, it’s most likely your poems coming back, but once in awhile it’s a sign of good news. Very Pavlovian. Just a few acceptances and every thick envelope holds promise.

In any case, it’s better to get mail than not. Submissions get older and colder and at what point do you write them off. This is why I prefer sim subs. Then you can have your poems working double, treble, or whatever time for you. My three oldest submissions are from December 2003. They’re all online mags that don’t take sim subs. Well, they do now. It’s simply too long to ask me to wait. I’ve sent them follow up emails with no responses. I sent them strong work, because they were mags I wanted to see my work in at that time. But these poems need to be working. Now they are. I tell myself editors are human. They can be quick with judgments, flaky or not very good, rushed for deadlines, reading for particular issues, etc. I don’t blame them, but this is just my reasoning for only sending out sim subs, at this point. (Comment: When I say sim subs I mean subs sent to lit mags that ACCEPT them. I do not sim sub to mags that do NOT accept them.)

But all I can do when another rejection comes in is to send a new one out. It’s as simple as that. Then begins the waiting once again for any mail, bad mail, good mail. Thick and it could be paperwork or just my poems coming back with a “sad slip” but kind words are always appreciated.

Posted by mybluemuse at September 28, 2004 10:27 AM
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