Endless Summer

"Pending response" declares Duotrope. Bright red letters blaze on my list of outstanding short story submissions.

It's been far too long, according to Duotrope's carefully tended database, since the story was sent and a response received.

Most of the literary journals are run by universities, with student interns doing the slush reading. They've gone away from school for the summer, to work at jobs that actually pay real money. No one's around to manage the journal's submissions, and so I am stuck with the waiting. I'm tired of waiting. I want summer to end.

Ohio University's English department reads submissions from October through April. I submitted in February. It's August. No response.

The University of Chicago says they read from October through June, but what's become of my submission from March?

Waiting for summer to end, possibly. Blue Mesa Review said as much in an e-mail last May. They didn't finish all the year's submissions but it was time for summer vacation and they'll let me know in September or October when they're back at it.

And I'll be back at it myself, sending out more submissions as soon as the journals open up again for submissions at the end of an endless summer.