A Hat Trick

I've had three magazine stories in print this past week. One in My Weekly called Will They Love Her More? - a twist in the tale (thank you Liz Smith for my contributor's copy).
The second is a mystery/cosy crime sale to The Weekly News called Caught (thank you Jill Finlay for my copy) and I've one in Fast Fiction, Australia with the same title...as yet no copy but it may be stuck in the post so thanks to Anthony Lambert in advance. I've also had two 'short-listed' replies but I never count on those as they often disappear into the void.

My Weekly like their writers to add a bit about the inspiration behind their story. I always find this difficult for some reason, especially in so few words. I never know whether to go for pithy, tongue-firmly-in-cheek or make some serious statement. Think I went for the latter on this one:


Probably shouldn't have posted my 'Word from the Author' because if you intended reading the story, I've given the twist away. Ah, well!

I've also been busy emailing submissions. Around 8 are whizzing around the world at this moment. If one hits the spot I'll be happy as I need to top up my 'Vegas Wedding Fund'.

What else has been happening? Oh yes, I went with family to watch Toy Story 3 in 3D on Monday. We NEVER usually venture out of the front door on any Bank Holiday - we once spent hours on a motorway only a few miles from home and said that would be the last time.

Anyway, we had a lovely carvery meal first at Treble Bobs pub, then off up the M1 to Cineworld, Sheffield, which on arrival looked like a mistake, especially as the showing was about to begin in 15 mins. BUT we found a parking space by chance and though we queued for about 10 mins for tickets, we got some great seats right in the middle towards the back of the theatre. The film was fun, though I'm already getting unimpressed with 3D.

Right, I'm off for a coffee and a read through my magazine copies.

A Million Womag Writers

Amanda Brittany has started to compile a list of womag writers on her blog. Boy does she have her work cut out! There must be thousands of us out there, all scribbling away hoping to please an editor. Which got me to thinking about when I first started out submitting back in 2001.

A sub to People's Friend would take approx a week to 10 days for a yay or nay answer. A sub to Woman's Weekly or My Weekly maybe three to four weeks. Take A Break usually got back to me within 4 to 5 weeks, 6 at the most. How times have changed!

The People's Friend still remains the quickest, with all the other mags taking up to 6 months and in some cases over a year for a decision. That's if they bother to answer at all. Increasingly, some are adopting the 'if you don't hear from us assume it's a rejection' attitude, which I find irksome (a bloody liberty). Yes, I know you're busy but how difficult would it be to hit the reply button on an email? If any editors who've adopted this stance are reading this then...um...ignore my comments - I don't want to be black-listed! Which, I suppose is exactly why they get away with it.

My pet hate is editors who don't EVER get in touch. Not even to say 'Stop sending me your pathetic drivel'. A certain overseas mag editor hasn't replied to me in years, though she accepted the first thing I ever sent her so she must like my writing. Maybe I should take it as a sign she's not interested but until she actually says so I'll keep sending. No, I wont get tired and disheartened, Missy. I'm made of sterner stuff! You don't get rid of me that easily.

Maybe she needs to take a leaf out of Fast Fiction Oz who have an automated reply system to acknowledge receipt of a submission which I think is a brilliant idea - but even that's hit and miss, especially following their (frequent) editor changes.

The nice people at My Weekly generally send a brief 'Got it, Sue' email as does Woman's Weekly. They may then take months and months to give a definitive answer, but at least I'm not left wondering if it ever arrived in their in-box.

But then never having been an editor I can't imagine what it must be like to open my in-box on a Monday morning to find it crammed to busting point with submissions. And not all of publishable quality at that!