Thanks, Ginger! I went brief. "Thank you again for your submission, unfortunately..."

I have a love/hate relationship with Google blog alerts. Every time I read submissions, it pops up with three more mentions of how I turned someone down and how that feels. Of course, it also tells me when someone finds something good we've put out, which makes me very happy.

The list of awards + tiny extra-flowery quote sounds like she's a bit of a special unique snowflake. Asking for more will only make her think you like it, but asking her to follow the guidelines may just make her realize that this whole business has something to do with communicating with other people. (Or at least, playing well with others.)

Yeah, speculative fiction is full of snowflakes.

I find the present tense awkward to read but I slip into it more often than not when I practice freewriting. I wonder why that is.

I fear that writing in general is full of snowflakes, or flakes for short.

I am trying to write about myself for my website. I would rather be boiled in oil than write about how I'm such a special snowflake that you should pay me a lot of money to do work for you.

but I slip into it more often than not when I practice freewriting. I wonder why that is.

Maybe it's how you think or how you verbally tell stories?

Yeah, speculative fiction is full of snowflakes.

This made me snort Diet Coke up my nose.

I fear that writing in general is full of snowflakes, or flakes for short.

BWAH! Hey, I resemble that remark! *g*

I find it easier to write first person than third, and I like stories written that way if they work.

I find it easier to write first person than third, and I like stories written that way if they work.

My preferred poison is First Person, past tense, but it's such a huge no-no in romance that I'm relearning how to write in Third, which I avoided for years because of all the academic training. My dialogue was great, but the narrative sounded like a damned textbook. Feh. With any luck, I've gotten better at that.

I like first person past tense! I think you're right about the academic poison. My third person dialogue sucks ass.