Not tonight; I have a headache...

My prostitute story came back rejected startlingly fast. I thought it might be a little too "raw" for the particular market, and I was right.

So, anybody want to buy a prostitute story? One careful owner... :-)

The fastest rejection I ever received was from the now defunct (I think) NFG magazine. Email submission to email rejection took all of seven minutes. The best rejection was addressed to me but clearly described someone else's story. I didn't have the heart to write back and say so. I did often wonder, though, if someone else received an acceptance for my story.

I once pulled a story when a market that had seemed dead to my update queries suddenly came back with an acceptance. Assuming no answer meant no sale, I'd subbed the story out elsewhere, and when I pulled it from this 'current' market I was told it was (pinches fingers) this close to a sale. The 'current' market was a pro-zine. The market I pulled it for was way below. How daft am I, eh? The pro market could have said: "No, leave it with us, we might buy." But they didn't. Maybe they thought I needed a lesson, not that I'd done anything wrong.

Still, I console myself with the thought "a sale's a sale".