Monday, January 14, 2008

Yet Another Query

I'm sending Masks off to Ethan Ellenberg tomorrow. There's an email option, but I really wanted to have those first 50 pages in hard copy, proper format and all that. I have to say, after sending off three email queries, there's something more satisfying about sending a manila envelope with some heft to it to New York. I guess I'm old-fashioned. I'd rather have that weight and substance in my hands, the trip to the post office, a more traditional wait and the perk of added interest when I check the mailbox. This is the kind of submission I'm used to. I've missed it. It's been way too long. I think with my WotF sub I got it edited and shipped off so fast I hardly felt it. With Masks it's been a more involved process, with more time to agonize.

Speaking of sparkly mailbox syndrome, did anyone else get a WotF heads-up email? I got one today. Yay! Normally I'd be all gee, up to ten weeks before final results, but today everything writerly seems to be happening very fast.

Dear Contestant,

Your story has arrived and been logged in the 1st quarter of the 2008 contest. We will have final results in 8 to 10 weeks. If you have any questions feel free to let me know. Otherwise, you can also check out the blog as I do post the winners there. (Content deleted by Kami to defy evil spam bots from assaulting the nice director.) Best, Joni Labaqui - Director


Good luck to us all!

5 comments:

C. Jane Reid said...

Yeah, I received that email. When I saw something from WotF sitting in my inbox, my heart jumped. For half a second I was excited until I realized it was way too early to be hearing results. So naturally I thought it was an email to tell me that my story was *so bad* they had to refuse it entry.

Funny how my brain goes from excited to depressed in half a second.

So I was happy to find a note just letting me know they received my submission.

But in eight to ten weeks, I'm going to be a mess, I think, when I see another email from them.

Sigh.

C.S. said...

Got the WotF email too. I too figured it was a rejection (even though I sent an extra stamped, addressed envelope so they can tell me that personally) but I didn't get depressed over the thought.

Funny how we each think differently.

In eight to ten weeks, I will probably have forgotten about the whole thing and if and when a rejection comes, I won't be thinking, "Crap!" I'll be looking for the next place to send that story because I know it belongs somewhere out there.

Kami said...

Update, shipped off the query today. I'm looking at another agency today since I have yet another looming deadline. Again with the time moving so fast--one query a week suddenly seems like a ton.

I was very happy to get that note. I'm acknowledged! Yay! I'm in the contest! Yay! When the results start coming back we should have a losers party to celebrate our participation.

C.S. said...

A losers party. I like that. We should also have a toast whenever one of us submits and gets rejected. Of course, the toast can be a leeetle bigger when we get accepted.

Kami said...

I could have a lot of fun with toasts for rejections right now. I just have the one so far, but I have four queries out there right now and if they all came in at once ...