Waiting for rejects

I have two stories waiting. One of them has been out for 92 days. Three months is a long time to sit in the slush. I think that I might have sold this story three or four times by now, but I chose a venue that had all of its editors quit a while ago and it is taking a long time for the one reader left to work through the pile. Reports have it that the reader is rejecting stories that are about 95 days in the slush so that I might hear before the end of the weekend. I am walking on thin eggs (as Jim’s Mom was fond of saying).

The other story is at a site where I heard that the editor has just cleaned out the slush so my story is one of the next he’ll read. This story has been sitting around for a while because I needed to punch it up. I tried to make it stronger, but it is not a slam dunk. I hope the editor doesn’t hate it, even if it is not accepted.

I have one other story almost ready to go out. It has a slow spot in the middle that I need to rewrite, but my boss is wandering around like Hamlet’s Ghost, so I can’t work on it. Maybe next week I can find time. If one of the two stories out is a sale, I will be encouraged to work on the nearly done story.