Alas and Alack...

Hello all you international people who are spiking my daily page views! I don't think you're supposed to be here, but greetings all the same.

Now then...

A few literary responsibilities have come and gone in the past couple months. I didn't want to write about them until they were either finalized or more established.

I managed to finish the Reflections Contest judging a few days ahead of schedule. When my friend asked me to help with K-2 entries on the day of the deadline, I happened to have a head cold at the time and could barely concentrate on work. So I couldn't help him... which is a shame. I still don't know who won in my middle school level, though. It would be cool to know. Also, I haven't heard anything from my managing editor about whether we can publish some of the best runners up. Some of them were amazing, and I'd love to be able to present them with an amazing consolation prize. "Sorry you didn't win... but this magazine wants to publish you, which is an amazing opportunity for someone your age." My managing editor was excited about the idea, but we had to make sure to do everything legally and submit the idea to the other editors and to PTA. Alas, after I gave my managing editor and friend each other's emails, I no longer received updates about correspondences. I guess that's what happens when you step away from being the middle person.

A few months ago, when I attended a Bridges publishing conference at Chatham, I met a local literary agent. She's part of an agency and specializes in YA literature that is female-centric. I thought it would be an invaluable experience to work for her as a reader--someone who reads solicitations remotely and writes up impressions, and gets paid for it. Alas, the position no longer exists in the publishing world. That job is now done by interns who aren't paid because of the economy still being what it is. So we spoke for a little bit during the conference and she mentioned that she might have internship slots available during the summer. I emailed her earlier this week and received a response yesterday. Alas, there are no slots. She said to contact her again in August for fall positions and to remind her of our exchanges. She seems to be a really nice and fun lady, and I still think it would be great to work for her. Plus, it's remote work with only one day in the office. With my full-time job's flex hours, I could manage this internship well. So now I have to play the waiting game again.

On to better news.... One of my creative nonfiction pieces was accepted for publication! The notification came out of the blue, kinda. I had sent out simultaneous submissions about 100 days ago and after a couple months, you're supposed to either query or consider the submission to be rejected. But no! So that was an awesome discovery.