Amanda Witt is the author of The Red Series of dystopian novels. Her stories can be found in the Mystery Writers of American anthologies Odd Partners (April 2019), Life Is Short and Then You Die (September 2019), and A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime (by Ana Rainwater). Here she talks about her AHMM debut, “Up in the Air” from the current March/April 2019 issue.
Funny thing about this story: I got scolded.
“Up in the Air” began as many short stories do. I saw a call for submissions, wrote something that fit the criteria, and sent it off. In return I heard nothing. As all writers know, this happens.
Then I got the following email [identifying information has been removed]:
The deadline was January 31st at 11:59 p.m. The judges have already finished reading and the final decisions are being made in the next 2-3 weeks.
Sorry, but you’re just too late to be considered. You would have been too late on February 1st, let alone March 8th.
Ouch.
But I’m one of those oldest-child, authority-respecting types. Any latent rebellion comes out in alter-ego characters, and never, ever in the real world. I check the details. I follow instructions. I wear my seatbelt, pay bills on time, and clean up after my dog on walks in the park. So hadn’t I sent the story in well before the deadline?
I checked, and indeed I had. And—like a good detective—I found proof.
Loath to argue, but wishing to retain a reputation for professionalism in even such a minor matter as this, I sent a brief reply:
I sent this in on January 27 (as you can see in the email beneath your own).
There was no disputing it, thanks to the “include the original email in your reply” function.
A flurry of explanations, excuses, blame, and apologies (of a sort) followed:
I don’t know what to tell you. It just arrived today. We posted on the website the day after we closed that all submissions had been acknowledged, and if you didn’t receive an acknowledgment, to contact us.
I have NO idea how this mail snafu happened. I received a lot of entries, and this one literally just popped up this morning. Totally bizarre.
After a bit of cordial back-and-forth, we parted ways amicably, and I sent “Up in the Air” somewhere else—namely to AHMM, whose editors have been (and surely always will be!) unfailingly gracious.
So “Up in the Air,” a cautionary tale about marriage (or about cell phones, police officers, small children, or prescription drugs—take your pick!) brings with it a couple of cautions for writers of stories and writers of emails.
Writers of stories: Check back on the submission website after the deadline passes. And, whether a statement about acknowledgment is posted or not, if you submit a story and you don’t get a “story received” message, consider pinging the editor. “Lost in cyberspace” actually does happen.
Writers of emails: Even if someone clearly appears to be in the wrong, be kind. The world will be a better place for it. And besides, life can be confusing. You might turn out to be the one who is mistaken—for real-life stories, like fictional ones, have a habit of taking unexpected twists.
Trace Evidence 