I used my pent up frustration here at work to write a new short story. While everyone else was running around trying to find out where their stuff got moved to, I knocked off 3500 words. I proof read it this morning and sent it out. None of this edit, proofread, re-check stuff for me. I write it and then send out the first draft. By the time it gets back I’ll have some good ideas for improving it.

I’ve had a story out at one zine for 35 days. They respond in 7 days on average, so they are either considering it or they lost it. In my experience, about a quarter of all zines lose stories or forget to send responses. Another story is at a venue that always responds in under 6 days and it has been there for 8. It is a little early to get my hopes up though. I have three other stories out at venues that report when they feel like it and I expect that I will query after two months only to learn that they never got the story, got it and lost it, or never sent the response. I had to query on one venue last week and the response was: “Yeah, I think I remember that story. I didn’t want it.” That’s the actual quote.