Yeah, I think maybe I made Steve's acquaintance once, maybe at a cocktail party, once, in passing, perhaps?

Over at the Emerging Writers Network, Steve Erickson, whose novels, you may or may not recall, I recently developed a slight interest in, takes part in the July 2005 E-panel interview of Literary Journal Editors, part of an ongoing series of such e-panels (click that link then scroll down to the "LitJournals" links). Steve Erickson is editor of the lit mag Black Clock, one of the many lit mags I'm going to subscribe to, ah, any day now. Once that check from my wealthy patron clears. (Right.) In the interview, Erickson reveals that Black Clock, which does not currently hold open submissions, likely will be opening up the slush pile floodgate sometime in the near future; I might as well start working on my cover letter now, because, I imagine, there's bound to be a unique thrill to being rejected by one of your idols. ("He was in the room with the intern who read and rejected my story! My words were in the same room as greatness!") Also taking part in this e-panel is Eli Horowitz of McSweeney's, a mag which I have in fact already been rejected by. My words! Making the tour! Awesome.

So those lit journal editor e-panels have been held monthly this year, and I believe I read somewhere that they're scheduled to take place for the rest of this year. With seven e-panels down, 55 editors have been interviewed on attitudes towards the slush pile, importance of agent representation and simultaneous submissions in getting stories accepted, the business of making a lit journal happen, etc. I say all this more for my own benefit than anyone else's, in that I need a serious reminder-to-the-self to go back and review all those interviews when it comes time to send out my next round of submissions. Once I actually write that total genius story I've just been holding back on until now. (Right.) Lots and lots of good information in there. Which is pretty much scraping the iceberg of what Dan Wickett e-mails out and blogs out via the Emerging Writers Network--I think he generates more worthwhile content in a day than I've created in a lifetime. Worth checking out. (If, uh, you haven't already.)