Christie Yant

OMG YOU GUYS SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED.

I feel like it’s the last day of summer camp or something. I’m gonna miss you!

I started reading for Lightspeed the second week of January–casually at first, just a couple of stories a night. It quickly became apparent that I was going to need to step it up to keep it from piling up, so I made it my mission to clear the queue every night. I’m certainly not the only one who reads a lot–Assistant Editor Jordan (She Who Brings the Expertise) rocks the slush pretty hard on the weekends, and there are other dedicated volunteers who help out when time permits. But we promised a two-day turnaround, so I just made it A Thing I Do so the Overlord doesn’t have to worry. (We DO NOT LIKE WORRY here at Inkhaven.)

I’ve been visiting you guys every night for three months, and I’m sad to have to stop. It’s become a habit to check on the queue throughout day. I love seeing the stories come in. I love seeing you try again when the first one didn’t stick. I love getting my hopes up for the authors I recommend, and I’m genuinely bummed when I see them rejected. And those of you who gave us your very first submission EVER–what an honor. Really. Thank you.

I also love that the Overlord’s street cred is such that you trust him with your stories without ever having seen an issue. June is coming, and with it the launch of Lightspeed; then you’ll see that you didn’t have to worry about whether you were submitting to the right market. You’ll see that you were in good hands all along. Your trust was not misplaced.

I’ll still be doing other stuff for the Exalted One in the meantime, but I’m going to shift the time I spent reading into skilling up for a change in my day job. I’ll be ready when submissions open again July 15. I suspect it’ll feel a little like a reunion. :)

But first I’m going on vacation! I leave next week. You should take one too. A short one. And then you should get back to writing amazing science fiction to have ready for us this summer.

Thanks for making the past three months so awesome for me. Keep making great art. I can’t wait to see what you come up with for the next reading period!

*GROUP HUG*

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So on February 27 the Overlord told me I’ll be listed on the masthead of Lightspeed as Assistant Editor. I share the title with Jordan Hamessley, who is a children’s book editor by trade.

I choked on my tea and said thank you about a half dozen times.

A month later, having asked him repeatedly if he’s absolutely sure, I’m finally starting to feeling like it’s real, and am updating things from “slush reader” to Assistant Editor.

What this has involved so far apart from reading a whole lot of slush (and we do have other people who read some when they’re available) has been varied. I’ve done some proof-reading and some brain-storming; I’ve given some second- and third-opinions; came up with questions for an author interview; done whatever minioning needed doing, and on one notable occasion actually made an editorial pass at a story.

I feel really weird about it. Elated, but also humbled. I’ve only been doing this for three months. I won’t short myself and deny that I have worked very hard, but it’s still an honor I don’t really feel I’ve earned yet.

The solution to that, of course, is to just keep working hard. I figure by the end of the year I won’t feel like a total fraud anymore, right?

Right?

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