I stayed up too late last night, writing out some snail mail, being astounded at how atrocious my handwriting has become… those of you who’ve received holiday cards from me know what I’m talking about. My penmanship has never been award-winning, but it’s to the point where I actually feel a need to work at polishing it up some. I feel like such a weirdo, but I actually prefer to do my word processing on a machine, and then hand-write letters after the fact, once I have it the way I like it.

Still no word back from Analog… but that’s to be expected. I think I’m just going to try to forget about it until a acceptance or rejection letter arrives. I don’t like submitting stuff in paper format… it’s so wasteful. More magazines should consider e-mail or floppy for submissions, just to spare a couple of trees. here’s how they like it –

Manuscripts must be computer-printed or typed, double-spaced, on white paper, one side of the sheet only. Please avoid unusual or very small typefaces. Indent paragraphs but do not leave extra space between them. Please do not put manuscripts in binders or folders. We do not accept e-mail or fax submissions.

Author’s name and address should be on the first page of the manuscript. No material submitted can be returned or acknowledged unless accompanied by sufficient postage, stamped and addressed envelope (not a postcard), or stamped International Reply Coupons. No simultaneous submissions please.

Analog pays 6-8 cents per word for short stories up to 7,500 words, $450-600 for stories between 7,500 and 10,000 words, and 5-6 cents per word for longer material. We prefer lengths between 2,000 and 7,000 words for shorts, 10,000-20,000 words for novelettes, and 40,000-80,000 for serials. Fact articles are paid for at the rate of 6 cents per word.

Stuff I submitted was about 4,000 words, or approx $280 a story. Another reason I’ll never be a professional writer, I just can’t crank out enough to support myself in a way that I’d like… I have no idea how much I could get published, but if I assume ‘1 in 10’.. (a ratio I pulled from behind, of no value, but sounds good), I’d probably make enough to get by, comfortably. *ponders* Well, I’ll consider that dream more later.