Diary of a Mad Editor

Maybe “Huey” has a point about form email rejections. Just received a form email rejection from the New Yorker that makes my form rejection email message seem like an invitation to Thanksgiving Dinner by comparison. Not that I am New Yorker material, but that story was the closest thing I’d to a New Yorker piece or, at least, my most Carveresque effort. If I sound a little bummed — I’m not. Just a little desperate. Last time I checked, NY paid something like $5000 for a story. Being as I owe everybody these days and I only have my stories and my blood left to sell (and I need my blood) . . . Ah well, it was a long shot, anyway. Still, I am nostalgic for the old days when the New Yorker would at least send a form rejection on real quality paper with the New Yorker letterhead and a real ink signature. Back then one came away from the experience feeling as if a real human being read the submission.