Need to follow up!

It's so frustrating to think that with everything you do you have to follow up, to double check, to make sure things are happening as they are supposed to.

In the middle of the crazy Writing and Submitting fest that was my life last week, I submitted a story for the Common Ties Story Blog. First off, they actually pay and second, it is the year of Why Not Me, and third, they pay. Did I mention they pay? Not that pay is the only criteria for respect, but money is measurable, and I have a goal to make some money from my writing this year... so the fact that they publish some fine stories, you retain copyright and they pay, makes it a good opportunity in my mind.

Each week they feature a different theme (grief, cancer, missed connections, mothers, etc.) When I first discovered this website back in Janary, I had just missed the deadline to submit for the Cancer theme (isn't that always the way?). And between then and now none of the other "themes" spoke to me, or I didn't have anything near polished enough to submit... until, May 15 "Open Themes" (could there be any more deadlines for me in May??) So I submitted my Me and Billy Crystal essay, via email, at 8:14 am on May 15. Well within the deadline. Not even close to midnight or anything.

And I waited.

And I got to thinking, "When are those essays supposed to publish?" and "Funny I haven't heard anything." Not that I expect my essay to be published, but I did expect SOME response, the email equivalent of a rejection slip, perhaps... but no, nothing. So I looked online and saw that This week is open theme week. So instead of just saying, "hmm. Oh Well," I actually emailed via the Contact Us page, and said shall I assume a rejection if I've not heard from you? The editor replied (pretty quickly I might add) that yes, that would be the case, and she copied and pasted the response letter text below that should answer any other questions....

So, I'm looking at this email thinking, "I didn't get one of these response letter emails with this information. Hmmm."

So I emailed her back and said, thanks for the info, but I didn't get one of these emails. And she emailed back and said she didn't have a record of receiving an email submission from me. Weird. Slurped into the SPAM box? who knows. I had a record of it being sent, so I forwarded the sent copy to her.

So, we'll see. As I said, I'm not expecting publication... but hey, why not me?