The Waiting Game

I didn't get into writing for the money, but it would be nice if I weren't losing money each month as I pursue the writing venture....

I'm not losing much, but my expenses are also so low right now that getting just about any article published in any magazine would pull me up out of the red. For a couple months!

With the number of queries I have out to magazines (and they're pretty decent queries, if I say so myself), I think the odds are actually in my favor that something will get accepted. And I know I can sell every one of these story ideas, whether the magazines I'm currently querying want them or I have to go elsewhere.

What's grating on me is just wondering how long it will take before I even hear back from any of the publications.

Some magazines leave their reply time open-ended. In other words, "Perhaps eight months after we receive your letter we'll drop you an e-mail that, no, in fact, we've been sitting on your query all this time after making the decision not to publish it seven and a half months ago."

Or they promise a speedy reply: "Because we know your time is valuable, it's out policy to get back to you within two months no matter what, even if we haven't had a chance to open your letter yet!"

Or, my personal favorite, they warn you they won't reply at all unless they want to publish your piece: "For the first six months, your guess is as good as anyone else's whether we're going to accept your story; after that, each months that passes should deepen your conviction that we dropped you into the trash bin with everyone else we don't already have on speed dial."

Oy.