If I've Told Myself Once, I've Told Myself A Thousand Times...

You just never know, so stop trying to second-guess the market, Gitte!

Example: I just came home to an email from a certain pro market (not one of the Big Three) telling me that a story I submitted two days ago is being considered for publication.

I almost, of course, didn't send this particular story to them. Everything I've ever submitted to them before (and I've sent many stories their way, believe me) has come back quick smart. I thought this would be just another speedy turnaround.

But I made myself do it, gritting my teeth at the ridicule I imagined would most certainly be heaped upon it at the other end (it's the relatively new story I've previously described  as a hopefully amusing SF quest story featuring a human-alien, Sherlock-Watsonishy team with a dash of Sir Richard Burton (not the actor! Richard Francis Burton).) It's already been rather abruptly rejected twice, so even though I enjoyed writing it and like it myself, I've been feeling a bit unsure about it's worthiness as a piece suitable for a more general audience. Humour is difficult to gauge. Maybe it wasn't so amusing after all...

Now it's being considered for pro publication. The odds are still staggering, and my chances are slimmer than the slimmest of slims, but at least I know now that story must be reasonably okay. It must have tickled one or two editorial funny bones to make it out of their mountainous slush pile.

And so it goes.