I know I haven’t handled an open submission reading period for some time, but this surprised me. Turns out there are a lot of people out there who are confused by writer’s guidelines. Seems terms like ‘deadline’ and ‘word limit’ just throw them into a tizzy.

As you all know, the ‘deadline’ for Eclipse Two and Three was midnight on 29 February, 2008. What this means is that I wouldn’t look at anything sent to me after that date and time. Now, some folk were reasonably and legitimately thrown by the fact that I live in Australia and that, as a result, the deadline was Australian time. I understand that, and this is not directed at them. But a whole bunch, over forty people, sent stories in up to a week after that, or sent queries asking if I’d make an exception for them because they were, for some reason, special. This just took me aback. I’m all up with the specialness thing, but when you’ve sent back stories unopened by 40-odd people you can’t make exceptions – it’s not fair. And it’s not professional to ask. Similarly, if the upper limit for a book is 10,000 words, then don’t send in 15,000 word stories and be surprised when they’re bounced unread. It’s just not okay.

Now, you might say, how are new writers to know this, and what can they do about it? Well, first thing: read the guidelines and assume, just for a minute, that the editor or publisher means them. Generally there’s a good reason for the guidelines. Sometimes not, but it’s not your call. In the case of Eclipse, I capped the word limit at 10k because the publisher wants me to keep the book at about 100,000 words, and I want at least a dozen stories in there, so that means long stories eating up a big chunk of the book are, for the most part, out. It’s possible I might make an exception for a solicited story, but even that’s unlikely. Second, the deadline. The deadline is there because it runs on into other things. I have to deliver Eclipse Two in the first week of June. If I don’t, the publisher will, rightly, smack me hard. But I need time to read the 450 unsolicited submissions, write all of the letters that go with them, and then edit the stories. I also need to time to read the solicited submissions and deal with them, all before writing the volume intro and the story notes and assembling the manuscript. This stuff takes time. I also happen to have other book projects, a day job, and a young family. Hence deadlines.

So, what if you have to, have to, have to be late or long or something else? Well, try asking long before the deadline hits and you might get lucky. I opened Eclipse on 1 February, and announced it a few days before that. I might have discussed deadline and length then, but not after the deadline.

I meant to mention: the sun’s almost gone and the cricket is down to the wire.  A courier arrived just before dinner. Copies of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 2. It looks swell, indeed, with a lovely John Berkey cover.  These will be a Swancon in a couple weeks.  Many, many thanks to Jer for arranging to get it delivered. A very fine thing indeed.

Sitting in the back yard, watching the sunset, and listening Australia see if they can snatch an unexpected victory in Brisbane.  Summer is ending here in Perth.  This is the first moment where that has seemed to be true. There is moisture in the air, a softness to the light that you don’t get when summer has the countryside in its grip.  There’ll be hot days still – a few close to the old century are forecast next week – but before long, maybe a month from now, we’ll be done and the days will be cool, clear-skyed and perfect before we move into what passes for winter here.  Two seasons really aren’t enough.

Work? I need to edit some columns, finish a new proposal, work through a couple hundred submissions, and do the interstitial material for Godlike Machines.  It’s in an interesting position.  A writer dropped out late in the day.  Another has risen to the challenge, and hopefully will get a story in only a couple weeks passed the original deadline.  I want to have most of the stories, though, before I write the introduction. Why? I’ve had a lot of talk about whether a book is what it’s advertised to be. The writers in Godlike Machines, a selection of novellas, have played with the theme quite a bit, which is great. I want to make sure, though, that it’s truth in advertising. Interesting job.

So, I sat down on the bed for a moment this afternoon. The family had been off at the Hyde Park Family Fair, had had a pretty good time, then we came home. I thought I’d read and maybe listen to the new Nick Cave album, which was a fine idea. However, after maybe half an hour Jessica (aged 7) came in. She wanted to know what I was doing with that iPod thing, so I let her put the headphones on. I began picking out some music for her to listen to: a little of the new Shelby Lynne cd, Abba, the Bangles, a little Elvis. It was pretty cute. Then Marianne came in, followed by Sophie. Not long after Marianne had brought in her iPod Touch and was surfing the net looking for Looney Toons videos, and I was blogging on the MacBook. And so it goes: a family moment, in a technical age. What pleased me the most was that while all of these products individually isolate us, for a while they brought us together.

Dear blog,

I am supposed to be reading everything else, so when a friend emailed me his novel to read I thought I’d never get to it. And then I thought, I’ll read the first chapter. I like his stuff, and I’ll enjoy it.  That was yesterday.  I finished reading it today, and I really liked it. I think you will really like it.  I’m going to email him back and thank him for sending it and tell him that he got me with it. I considered saying all sorts of other stuff, and maybe I will, but it’s a good book.  I’m not going to tell you what it is now, because I’m not sure that’s fair, but I definitely will soon. Oh, and should you wonder, it’s going to be published this year, so I’ll make a point of shouting about it when I can.

Best,

J