Well, the Kalevala ground to a halt for me. There’s a big chunk dealing with Ilmarinen’s wedding that goes on for a number of chapters. It’s lay after lay after lay about married life for the bride-to-be with advice like “be nice to your mother-in-law even when she treats you like dirt” and the general sentiment that “life as you know it is over.” It’s probably quite interesting from an anthropologic/ethnographic context, but gimmie singing wizards and I’ll be more happy. I’ve been wading through it for days now and even when I decided to skip ahead (normally considered a mortal sin for me) I still don’t have the same level of excitement as I did for the first third.

I need to get back on the writing wagon, too. BJD went out almost a week ago now and I’ve done very little serious work since. There are a number of stories that need a spit polish (meaning a day or two of editing) and they’ll go out. Not sure where yet and that might be part of the problem. Now that I’m more familiar with the markets I’ve got a better idea of what they’ll tolerate. Stories with a marginal (or lessor) speculative fiction element seem to have more luck at Asimov’s, Strange Horizons and SCIFI.com–or at least that’s my perception. F&SF stories typically have a strong spec fic element right up front, something Gordon mentioned at Clarion. It’s funny–before Clarion I had no idea why editors choose the stories they do for their mags but now (and thanks in no small part to the sometimes conversations on our Clarion group’s private website) I can see much more clearly what kinds of stories specific editors are drawn to–or at least that’s my perception.

F&SF has had “From the Mouths of Babes” for 21 days. This is quite a bit longer than usual and means absolutely nothing. They ask for eight weeks for a reply but my previous submissions have been answered in about 10 days. My initial reaction is that it must be lost. I’ve only had one lost submission (to Ideomancer) and it’s annoying when it happens; you check your mailbox (email box, in this case) waiting for a response and none ever comes. Querying about the status of your story is an uncomfortable matter; you don’t want to be pushy or overbearing (I can’t belive the unprofessional demeanor of hacks amateur writers I’ve seen on spec fic message boards) but on the other hand the editors give their response time windows for a reason and if you’re waiting past that time… It just feels like a no-win situation. Point being, F&SF says eight weeks, I’m used to under two, and I shouldn’t be getting antsy for a response at three weeks. I just shouldn’t.

But I am.