Ending the Week

I put in my day at work. Left arm still troubling me.

I set up a job interview for this coming Tuesday.

I also got through to the supplier of my cpap mask. If I understood correctly, I have a new one coming. Past due, in my opinion.

After work I went in search of my typist. I did not find her. I sent an email this morning.

Back at the room, I ate. I decided to take an hour nap. I set the alarm. I pretty much passed out. When I woke it was dark and I thought it was early this morning. Except it was not. It was 11:34. I had set the alarm without setting it for last night.

I checked my email. More rejections for my stories. 

"Passerby":

Thank you for sending us "Passerby". We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not for us. This does not necessarily reflect the quality of your work, but, more so, the large number of submissions we have received.

Thanks again. Best of luck with this.

Sincerely,

Mallory Smart

Maudlin House

***

Thank you again for submitting your work to The Puritan, Issue 58: Summer 2022.

As you might imagine, our small team of volunteer readers is forced to select an extremely small number of works from the hundreds of great submissions we receive each quarter. Submissions for this issue were once again excellent. Although we have to pass on your submission this time around, we’re truly grateful that you thought to send it our way.

We wish you best of luck in your future writing!

Sincerely,

The Puritan Editorial Staff

***

Thank you for submitting "Passerby" to Anti-Heroin Chic. I'm saying no to this one, but I'll tell you it was very close. The subject of the story is great, & the care you took with it is obvious. The story needs an edit, however, & I can't do it at the moment. You want to cut anything extraneous, e.g. the first word of the story, & also anything redundant, e.g. "We said nothing more" (since the dialogue pauses at that point, it's already clear to the reader that Poe & the narrator have stopped talking). Go over the entire story this way. Ideally you want someone else to read it cold, before you send it out; that person is liable to catch things you haven't, point out anything confusing, etc.

I suggest writing a brief cover letter when you submit. If you have no previous publications, so much the better -- because editors love to say they're publishing a first-time writer. If you do have a few prior pubs, then mention a few only, but not 20 or 30 (some writers actually put absurdly long lists of pubs in their cover letters, along with everything they've ever done in their entire lives, which is tedious). Lastly, keep writing. Thank you again for submitting,

Dylan Brie Ducey -- fiction ed.  

p.s. My notes on this story read as follows: "Not a lot of artfulness here, but he's onto something. Character of Poe is interesting; his speech is oddly archaic, & he's something of a guide or protector of the narrator."

I appreciate the last one - I got the right tone for Poe's dialog. I winced at the redundancy comment. I am also thinking editing on this phone is a problem. I need to get the PO to approve the laptop.

I need to get to my other job.

sch