Re: Build a better mousetrap ...

Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@xxxxxxx> wrote in
news:3425755aej7n6ja68hj5aojkrjue8cmmpa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:32:19 GMT, Gutless Umbrella Carrying
Sissy <taustinca@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@xxxxxxx> wrote in
news:smu47558bsop4ibl7ondb90gutm1p8oku7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
g:

Anyway, not accepting e-mail submissions isn't luddism, it's
an attempt to limit the slush. I don't know what Scalzi's
take on it was, but I suspect he's misinterpreted the
situation.

To the best of my knowledge, he has never written much in the
way of short fiction, and never for said magazines at all.
Perhaps it's a matter of "from known _to the editor_ authors,"
rather that established, because at this point, Scalzi is,
indeed, pretty well established, having been nominated for at
least on Hugo.

I strongly suspect that if Scalzi wanted to submit something in
e-mail, they'd take it.

It is possible, but since he has (apparently) never had any actual
contact with any of them, and has only their published guidelines
to go by, he has no way to know that.

In any event, his recent rant on the subject is here:

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/07/03/and-yes-in-fact-while-were-
on-the-subject-of-the-big-three/

http://tinyurl.com/lfd238

Ah. I see he dismisses the bozo filter argument. I think he
may be overly hasty in doing so.

Or maybe I'm out of date.

And he should know better, too, having been (I think) an editor of
some sort himself.

I haven't submitted anything on paper in ages, but I also
haven't had anything published in the "Big Three" in years --
maybe not this century, I forget. I stopped writing short
stories for a time when I had writer's block,* and when that
cleared up I was out of the habit; since then I've only written
short fiction for anthologies and webzines.

I'm given to understand many writers don't consider the potential
benefits - income - worth the effort, where short fiction is
concerned, anyway. Which is a pity, to me, since I love short
stories.

==

* This particular bout of writer's block was caused by a series
of medical issues, starting with a benign pituitary tumor that
fucked up my hormone balance. The drugs that successfully
killed off the tumor -- well, the second drug was no problem,
and I'm still on it, but the first one induced _even worse_
writer's block for eight months.

The first symptoms showed up in 1999, the tumor was diagnosed
and treatment begun in 2001, and I think it was in 2004 that it
was finally gone.

Yeah, medication can really *** up one's creativity. Had a friend
who ended up in the ER with congestive heart failure and blood
pressure so high they literally couldn't measure it[1]. The blood
pressure meds destroyed his short term memory, which ended his
ability to run roleplaying games, but made re-reading books a lot
more fun.

[1]The intern was walking around muttering "I don't know why he's
not dead. I don't know why he's not dead." He was more paniced than
his patient.

--
Terry Austin

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more ***."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.
.

Loading