Jibber Jabber - Q1 - Volume 34

[disgruntledpeony]

The longer we wait, the more active my imagination becomes. I'm sure reality will ground me soon enough. in the meantime...

*makes couch fort, huddles inside, eats triple chocolate chip cookies*

*pushes a second plate of cookies outside the fort to share*

[Jarebcollins]

I will briefly emerge from my own Fortress of Solitude to share a cookie… Thank you.

Now, if you will excuse me, I must hunker back down to weather another storm of delusion.

[disgruntledpeony]

*crawls out from under couch fort* Another Thursday's come and gone. Next week, maybe, or the week after. (I would be weirdly amused if we get the results in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, as this would be the second year in a row I got my notice during an overnight shift while the floor cleaners stripped and waxed the floors.)

[Jarebcollins]

Is there something significant about Thursday?

[Ishmael]

Is there something significant about Thursday?

See the recent explanation on the newcomers' introduction thread. We of the Old People consider *****day to be a magical day.

[disgruntledpeony]

Is there something significant about Thursday?

Results of almost any kind tend to go out on Thursdays.

[Rebecca Birch]

Is there something significant about Thursday?

Results of almost any kind tend to go out on Thursdays.

But not always. Hence any day can be Thursday.

[Rebecca Birch]

And I am so ready for a Thursday.

[LaurieG]

I hereby decree Saturday, April 15, to be an honorary Thursday.

[disgruntledpeony]

And I am so ready for a Thursday.

I hear you there. This is always the hardest quarter to wait for. I think next time I need to get an early start on my Q2 so that the long wait time doesn't hit me like it has the last couple of times.

[Ishmael]

Here's a little poem dedicated to the forum's equivalent of a secret handshake:

The day that was Thursday
I've heard some declare
Is a lesson in patience
To anarchy's heir;
Not all of us here
Who have torn out our hair
Just waiting for Thursday
When Thursday's not there
Can have trophies presented
Yet for all that we share,
We too meet on the level
And part on the square.

[bobsandiego]

The best thing in the world for the waiting is work.
My agent advised me that my next novel submission had a few too many typos. (Yeah I really suck at proofing.)
So I am having my computer read it out aloud, the entire 80600 words.
That should keep me out of trouble while Dave decides which category of rejecting I have earned.

[Jarebcollins]

So...the axe dropeth tomorrow, perhaps?

[Rebecca Birch]

So...the axe dropeth tomorrow, perhaps?

I'm predicting next week, just based on the dates that Q1 results came in over the past several years. Tomorrow would be super-awesome, though.

[KristyEmber]

Quarter 1 is the worst. Do you all remember the good ol' days of Quarter 4? Those were some sweet response times.

We're past Greenroom's estimate of a week, and it IS a Thursday today, but I think Rebecca is probably right and we'll be looking at next week.

[Jarebcollins]

Yeah...this quarter is agonizing!

Onward and upward, eyes on the horizon, watched pot and all that jazz...

[historythatneverwas]

The best thing in the world for the waiting is work.
My agent advised me that my next novel submission had a few too many typos. (Yeah I really suck at proofing.)
So I am having my computer read it out aloud, the entire 80600 words.
That should keep me out of trouble while Dave decides which category of rejecting I have earned.

What software do you use to have your computer read aloud? This could be a useful thing for me as well!

[greenroom]

So...the axe dropeth tomorrow, perhaps?

I'm predicting next week, just based on the dates that Q1 results came in over the past several years. Tomorrow would be super-awesome, though.

Won't be today. Next week is a definite possibility.

[bobsandiego]

The best thing in the world for the waiting is work.
My agent advised me that my next novel submission had a few too many typos. (Yeah I really suck at proofing.)
So I am having my computer read it out aloud, the entire 80600 words.
That should keep me out of trouble while Dave decides which category of rejecting I have earned.

What software do you use to have your computer read aloud? This could be a useful thing for me as well!

It's a part of the OS with OS X, but I suspect if you poke around in 'accessibility' parts of your controls panel for a Windows machine you'll find a similar feature.
I find that high-lighting about 1/2 a page at a time works perfectly. I read along as it speaks it and that way I catch the wrong word that neraly the right one.
Need/needed and so on.

[greenroom]

From today's conference call, Dave finished his second pass today, and will be starting his third (and, I think ,though am not sure, final) pass which, it sounded like, he is hoping to get through by Monday or Tuesday.

[disgruntledpeony]

*resumes residence in the couch fort*

[kentagions]

NNINN

Tremulo ego cogito ergo sum!

[Jarebcollins]

What exactly is a "third pass"? Sorry, new to the inner workings here...I'm just used to (seemingly) arbitrary praise or scorn from the F&SF gods...

[disgruntledpeony]

First pass is the process of weeding out R's, second pass is probably weeding out HMs and/or SHMs, third pass is quite likely deciding finalists/semi-finalists.

[bobsandiego]

From today's conference call, Dave finished his second pass today, and will be starting his third (and, I think ,though am not sure, final) pass which, it sounded like, he is hoping to get through by Monday or Tuesday.

I refuse to allow my hopes to rise.

[disgruntledpeony]

From today's conference call, Dave finished his second pass today, and will be starting his third (and, I think ,though am not sure, final) pass which, it sounded like, he is hoping to get through by Monday or Tuesday.

I refuse to allow my hopes to rise.

You are a smart man, sir. My hopes have stopped rising and turned to fears, as does happen from time to time.

[Ishmael]

It's the same, the 'ole world over
It's the writers 'as ter wait
Til the slush piles turn to compost
And our stories all mutate.

Once they was the bestest stories
Wot was wrote by man nor beast
But by the time we gets the reesults
We don't know 'em in the least!

[greenroom]

I submitted an uncritted rough draft to Q1 (that I winced when I reread - I love the basic idea, but I completely mangled the execution of it), which is great for me not getting my hopes up. However, I wouldn't advise this method of hope management :)

I'm just curious whether it will get an HM or an R.

My Q2 is the one that will have me shredding my nails.

[disgruntledpeony]

I submitted an uncritted rough draft to Q1 (that I winced when I reread - I love the basic idea, but I completely mangled the execution of it), which is great for me not getting my hopes up. However, I wouldn't advise this method of hope management :)

I'm just curious whether it will get an HM or an R.

My Q2 is the one that will have me shredding my nails.

I edited and edited my story, and hated every draft but the finished product because it took that long to feel right. I do legitimately think it was the best story I'd written at the time I wrote it, though. Probably why I'm so nervous.

[Jeremyteg]

So...sounds like we're expecting a Thursday this week then? I'm trying not to twitch, but every time my phone buzzes I have a mild heart attack expecting it to be from Galaxy Press.