Last night I checked my e-mail at 7 PM or 8 PM or some evening hour when most people should be out drinking and eating good food or seeing a movie or some social non-work-related activity…

And I had a newly-received rejection e-mail from a short story market.  Because, one of the first things you learn when you start submitting short stories or querying agents is that the reviewers and agents NEVER stop working.

I think my first four or five story rejections were all received on weekends.  It’s because for most of these folks they have other things they do during that normal Monday to Friday, 9-5 time period.  (Like edit and arrange their magazine or work their day job or talk to publishers about their existing clients.)

So, evenings and weekends are the only time they have to review new story submissions or queries.  Which means those are now dangerous times for me.

I occasionally can’t sleep and (thanks to a few years of having a work blackberry and a few bosses who would send e-mails at three in the morning about something they wanted addressed before lunch) will roll over in bed and check my e-mails.

I don’t know why.  I really don’t get that many interesting e-mails these days…

What I do get, now that I’m writing and submitting, are rejection e-mails at one in the morning or two in the morning.

That does nothing for insomnia.  Trust me.

It’s amazing how hard these folks work.  They truly have a passion for what they’re doing.  But, man, would my weekends be happier if they worked a little less…

Of course, I could just avoid e-mail on the weekends…Hmm.  That would work, too.