Mary Soon Lee's Mailbox Blues

Since I started submitting short stories in 1992, I have been obsessed by my mail, always listening for the progress of mail vans and postal workers. I have learned painfully that ninety-nine out of a hundred 9x12 inch envelopes contain rejection letters (acceptances come in exciting small envelopes, addressed and stamped by the magazines themselves). This page contains recent mail anxieties, in reverse chronological order.... Many thanks to Christopher Reynaga for the beautiful camel-and-mailbox artwork, and to David Jackson for the logo!

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31 July 2008: The Kit-Cat Review

I received a 500-day rejection from the Kit-Cat Review, which might be my slowest response to date (not counting those manuscripts that vanished into a black hole and never emerged at all).

21 July 2008: Mad Poets Review

I had a poem accepted by Mad Poets Review, which will be my third appearance there. And I saw the baby elephant at the Pittsburgh Zoo -- twelve days old. A good day :-)

12 July 2008: New roof

The roof has now been replaced at our house. After about four weeks of hard labor, with many days off due to bad weather, the roofers have finished :-) We hope not to need to do anything to the new roof for many decades to come....

9 June 2008: New house!

We moved into our new house at the end of May, and it is wonderful :-) There has been much activity of the expected varieties: unpacking, contractors in to do repairs, etc. And the biggest job -- having the roof redone entirely -- will begin very soon. But we are happy!

18 April 2008: Atlanta Review

My poem "Mall-Fever" (inspired by Masefield's "Sea-Fever") is in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Atlanta Review :-) Coincidentally, the issue focuses on China, and my father was ethnically Chinese, so it feels appropriate to appear in this issue. The poem itself, however, has nothing to do with China.

16 April 2008: Main Street Rag

I am delighted to report that Main Street Rag has accepted my poems "Laryngitis" and "Conscripts" :-)

3 April 2008: House + Iodine Poetry Journal

I think our house hunt may be behind us! We made an offer on another house in March, and on Monday we completed the post-inspection negotiations with the sellers. Many steps remain -- mortgage, title search, appraisal, etc., but usually these go smoothly. So we are very hopeful that we will own the house on May 30th :-) :-) :-) It is a large house with a relatively large yard for the city neighborhood. Not only will Lucy finally get a room of her own, but we will have a guest room, two home offices and a DVD room. We will also probably have roofers working overhead for most of June, as we are going to have the existing roof replaced.

On the writing front, Iodine Poetry Journal published my poem "Halfway House" in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue.

15 March 2008: Sow's Ear

My poem "Prayer" is in the latest issue of The Sow's Ear Poetry Review.

23 February 2008: Ship of Fools

My poems "Mute" and "Household Appliances: Iron" appeared in the latest issue of Ship of Fools :-) On the house-hunting front, we found another house we liked and made an offer on it, but failed to agree on a price with the sellers. So I am going to look at more houses, starting with three open houses tomorrow....

8 February 2008: Lucy

Today we received the letter saying that Lucy has been accepted for the PreKindergarten program at St. Edmund's Academy :-) This is the same school that her brother William attends (he is in 3rd grade). Lucy will go for 3 full days and 2 half days a week, starting in September...

28 January 2008: Mad Poets Review

My poem "The Third Man" was accepted by Mad Poets Review :-) On the non-writing front, I plan to resume our house-hunt in earnest on February 1st.

15 January 2008: Main Street Rag

I received my contributor's copy of Main Street Rag, containing my poem "Cleaning Woman" :-) This is my seventh poem to appear in this magazine.

3 January 2008

In a happy start to the New Year, my poem "Mall-Fever" has been accepted by Atlanta Review :-)

22 December 2007: Happy Christmas

May all who wander through here have a very happy Christmas and New Year :-)

The house hunting I mentioned in November's entry suffered a setback this week, but we will resume our hunt in 2008.

19 November 2007: Sow's Ear

On the writing front, I am happy to report that The Sow's Ear Poetry Review accepted my poem "Prayer" :-) In other news, we recently began house hunting, which is consuming a great deal of my time, but is mostly fun. We are looking for a bigger house in the same neighborhood -- we would like to be able to give Lucy a bedroom of her own and also have a spare bedroom. In theory, our house is large enough for this, but we have one room set up as an office and another as a family room/DVD room.

22 September 2007: Iodine Poetry Journal

Iodine Poetry Journal accepted my poem "Halfway House," which should be in their Spring/Summer 2008 issue.

7 September 2007: Sword and Sorceress

Today I received a royalty check for my story "The Hollow Dancer," which was published ten years ago in Sword and Sorceress XIV; the money is from an Italian edition of the anthology. An unexpected, but agreeable, surprise!

4 September 2007: Tales of the Unanticipated

I received my contributor's copies of Tales of the Unanticipated #28, containing my short story "A Piece of Strangeness." This is my fourth time appearing in TOTU.

25 August 2007: Harry Potter

I finished reading the last pages of the last Harry Potter book to William about an hour ago. Without giving any spoilers, I would like to offer one more thank you to J. K. Rowling :-)

2 August 2007: Computer

The summer is a quiet time for me on the writing front, because both William and Lucy are home with me. But I had some excitement over the past week as we upgraded to a new computer. I now successfully transferred my old files and installed most of the software I need, and there is no doubt that the new machine is a much prouder, faster beast :-)

13 July 2007: Teeth

I had a root canal yesterday :-( On the plus side, it was decidedly less gruesome and painful than the two root canals that I had a decade ago. On the negative side: I had a root canal yesterday :-(

12 June 2007: Ship of Fools

Upon returning from a short -- and most enjoyable -- family vacation at Disney, I found a bunch of mail, amongst which was an acceptance from Ship of Fools of my poem "Mute" :-) I also received back some poems submitted to ACM nearly two years ago!

21 May 2007: Concho River Review

I received my contributor's copy of the Spring 2007 issue of Concho River Review, which includes my poem "To Mary." This is my second appearance in Concho River Review.... On the non-writing front, Lucy recently finished the regular sessions of her two-mornings-a-week preschool. She will be starting a morning summer camp with the same (excellent) teachers next week.

30 April 2007: Rosebud

My poem "Last Words" has just appeared in Rosebud #38 :-) In other writing news, a few days ago I received the line edits (consisting of two punctuation changes) for my story "A Piece of Strangeness," which will be the next issue of Tales of the Unanticipated.

20 April 2007: Mad Poets Review

Mad Poets Review accepted my poem "Green Things" :-) This will be my second appearance there.... On the home front, Lucy and I bought two chairs for our porch today, and tested them out in the beautiful spring weather while she listened to a story.

19 April 2007: US Supreme Court

I believe this is the first time I have discussed politics on my website, other than to encourage people to vote. But I strongly oppose yesterday's Supreme Court ruling upholding the ban on certain abortions, without any exception for a woman's health. News Release from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

23 March 2007: Iodine Poetry Journal

My poem "Bequests from a Bachelor" is in the latest issue of Iodine Poetry Journal :-)

15 March 2007: Concho River Review

Today Concho River Review accepted my poem "To Mary" :-) This will be my second appearance there.... In non-writing news, tomorrow is William's last day of school before his two-week-long Spring Break. I am very much looking forward to spending more time with him, and to the respite from school bedtimes, early mornings, homework, etc. Hip, hip, hooray!

12 March 2007: ACM

Another slow reply today: I received a rejection slip from ACM for some poems submitted back in July 2005, and about which I queried back in August 2006.

8 March 2007: Fantasy Magazine

Today I received a story back from Fantasy Magazine, in itself not a notable event, but this was for a story that I submitted in 2005, and which they rejected by email -- after I had queried them -- back in September 2006. Moreover, it was accompanied by a rejection letter dated January 2006. Curiouser and curiouser....

3 March 2007: Cider Press Review

My poem "Consequences of the Speed of Gravitation" appeared in Cider Press Review, Volume 8 :-) This is my 70th poem to be published, a minor milestone. In my non-writing life, I am impatient for warm weather. We managed one trip to a playground last week, but today snow fell again, and although it didn't settle, I resented its presence!

20 February 2007: Main Street Rag

Main Street Rag accepted my poem "Cleaning Woman" :-)

8 February 2007: Sword and Sorceress

My friend Vera Nazarian will be publishing the next volume of Sword and Sorceress though her publishing company, Norilana Books :-)

19 January 2007: One Trick Pony

Today I received back some poems from One Trick Pony with a note saying that they are folding. Alas.

11 January 2007: Main Street Rag

Main Street Rag published my poems "Borrowed Minute" and "Call" :-)

29 December 2006: Favorite books of 2006

As we approach the end of the year, I thought I would list the books I most enjoyed reading this year:

12 December 2006: Royalties + porch

Today I received a (small) royalty check for my story "Shen's Daughter," published back in 2003 in Sword and Sorceress XX. This is one of my more lucrative short stories, having now brought in over ten cents a word, including a payment for being reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy #4. As you can deduce, writing short stories isn't a good way to get rich... In non-writing news, the last work on our porch was completed today! Hooray!

29 November 2006: Iodine Poetry Journal

I am delighted to report that my poem "Bequests from a Bachelor" has been accepted by Iodine Poetry Journal :-) This will be my fourth poem to appear there.

17 November 2006: Porch

I am happy to report that our porch repairs our now close enough to complete that we can enter the house through the front door. It has been more than a little awkward carrying our groceries down the narrow alleyway at the side of our house, up the wooden stairs to our deck, and in the back door, all while escorting (often carrying) Miss Lucy.

9 November 2006: Rosebud :-)

I am very happy to report that my poem "Last Words" has been accepted by Rosebud :-)

27 October 2006: Ship of Fools

My poem "Homewood Cemetery" has been published in Ship of Fools :-)

20 October 2006: Update

I had such good intentions of updating this page more regularly, but, alas, they came to naught. In the five weeks since I last posted here, much of our front porch has been dismantled. We thought just the front wall would need to be repaired, but the damage turned out to be more substantial. Our front door now opens onto a 6-foot-drop into a gaping hole. Hopefully the repairs will be finished in a couple more weeks.

We went away for a magnificent 3-day trip to Walt Disney World, accompanied by our good friends the Connollys. Between us, we had four children aged seven and under, and all had a very good time. To my surprise, Lucy was keen on all the rides that her short height allowed her to go on. She and William were also delighted by the hotel pools, the hot sunny weather, and the chance to meet Mickey Mouse, Goofy, et al. William gave the Magic Kingdom an A+++ grade, and I would give an A+++ to my meeting with Tigger.

I also read "The Privilege of the Sword" by Ellen Kushner, which is my favorite book in nearly two years (the previous being "Gifts" by Ursula K. Le Guin). "The Privilege of the Sword" is a beautifully written sequel to Kushner's earlier novel "Swordspoint." My only quibble is that I liked one section toward the middle of the book so much that the remainder -- while still excellent -- didn't quite live up to it.

Finally, in the past five weeks I have also done as much writing as in the rest of the year to date. This would be more noteworthy except that I had done so little writing up till then!

13 September 2006: Lucy

Lucy, not yet awake this morning, has her second birthday today. She is a cheerful and confident young person, who didn't need me to stay with her for her first morning of preschool last week. (I stayed in William's classroom for his first two months, which translates to about eight lessons in a two-morning-a-week program.) Lucy is also becoming more articulate, and can speak sentences of 6 or 7 words. Needless to say, I remain rather fond of her.

31 August 2006: date

Last night, Andrew and I went out on a date with no children present for the first time since Lucy was born. It's been a long time since we ate a meal so slowly and without any need to attend to people of diminutive stature....

2 August 2006: Ship of Fools

My poem "Homewood Cemetery" has been accepted by Ship of Fools :-)

17 July 2006: Cider Press Review

My poem "Consequences of the Speed of Gravitation" has been accepted for issue #8 of Cider Press Review :-)

30 May 2006: Biosurveillance

Andrew Moore -- my husband -- just had his first book published! With the catchy title of Handbook of Biosurveillance, it is a 624-page tome. Andrew is one of the book's three authors.

15 April 2006: Ship of Fools

Ship of Fools published my poem "Household Appliances: In the Basement" a little over a week ago, and I have finally found time to report it here. This is the third poem in my Household Appliances sequence to appear in Ship of Fools, and I have a fourth in their inventory.

29 March 2006: Flonet Biltgen

Flonet Biltgen, a friend and a science fiction writer, died early this morning. I first met her twelve years ago, attended over a hundred writers' workshop meetings with her, and every single time her company was a pleasure.

8 March 2006: Main Street Rag

Main Street Rag accepted my poems "Borrowed Minute" and "Call" :-) They have previously published four of other poems.... As is evident from the month-long gap between entries on this page, I am finding time at the computer to be in short supply. Lucy is ever more active, and doesn't seem inclined to sit quietly on the floor while I type away.

6 February 2006: Super Bowl

Here's to the Steelers! :-) :-)

21 January 2006: America

I received a contributor's copy and payment for my poem "Silk Road," which appeared in the December 5, 2005 issue of America. Looking back through my records, I see that this is the most I've been paid for a poem (one hundred dollars).

10 January 2006: New Year

Belated wishes for a very Happy New Year! Yesterday was Andrew's first official day working for Google. On the writing front, my poem "Twenty-First Century Woman" appeared in Concho River Review :-)

15 December 2005: Andrew and Google :-)

Today it was announced that Andrew Moore (my husband) will head a new engineering lab that Google is starting here in Pittsburgh :-) :-)

3 December 2005: Ship of Fools

Today Ship of Fools accepted two poems of mine from a sequence titled "Household Appliances." The poems they took were "In the Basement" and "Iron." Last year, they published two other poems from the same sequence.

1 December 2005: The Chaffin Journal + On Spec

To my surprise, I received two contributor's copies in today's mail: The Chaffin Journal, containing my poem "Fundamentals," and On Spec, containing my poem "Future Poetry." :-) In non-writing, news, we are enjoying having my father-in-law visit for a couple of weeks. William and Lucy love having their Grandpa to stay, and it was especially nice to have him with us for Thanksgiving.

15 November 2005: Tales of the Unanticipated

My short story "Luna Beat" just appeared in the latest issue of Tales of the Unanticipated; this is my third story to appear there.... On the non-writing front, we think Lucy may have asthma, and are trying to eliminate dairy products from her diet to see if that is the cause. Meanwhile Lucy is becoming ever more grown-up. She likes to choose her own outfits and can say a few words.

14 October 2005: Sword and Sorceress 20

I received a small royalty check for my story "Shen's Daughter," which first appeared in Sword and Sorceress 20. Looking back in my files, I realized this is my first writing-related payment since February. In the interim, I have had ten poems published and nine poems accepted, but of course many poetry markets only pay in copies.

13 October 2005: Concho River Review

I received a friendly acceptance of my poem "Twenty-First Century Woman" from Concho River Review, which is just getting itself organized again after Hurricane Rita.

11 October 2005: The Sound of Angels + Main Street Rag

My friend, Lisa Silverthorne, has just had her first collection, The Sound of Angels, published. Many congratulations, Lisa! :) On the home front, my poem "Screwups" appeared in Main Street Rag.

8 October 2005: Iodine Poetry Journal

I received the latest issue of Iodine Poetry Journal, containing my poem "Relativity."

4 October 2005: White Pelican Review

I received my contributor's copy of White Pelican Review, containing my poem "These Two Things." I also recently celebrated my fortieth birthday, a milestone which William marked by presenting me with a walking stick.

13 September 2005: Lucy is one

Lucy turned one year old today. She is a very busy person, always hurrying around trying to grab interesting objects. The whole family is rather fond of her :-)

3 September 2005: Chaffin Journal

I received an acceptance of my poem "Fundamentals" from The Chaffin Journal :-) In non-writing news, the summer vacation is nearly at an end -- William will go back to school in three days....

14 August 2005: White Pelican Review

Yesterday I was very happy to receive an acceptance of my poem "These Two Things" from White Pelican Review :-) On the non-writing front, Lucy turned eleven months old yesterday. She is a keen walker, though still rather wobbly on her feet. We took her to a water park today, and she wandered all around and got thoroughly drenched.

27 July 2005: mail

I have now gone through all the mail we received while we were away (including non-story-related mail). The mail included a blindingly-fast 7-day response from Cotyledon reporting that they have ceased publication, and a 260-day rejection from Asheville Poetry Review.

24 July 2005: West Virginia

We just spent nine days in Canaan Valley, West Virginia, where we had a lovely and relaxing time. It's a beautiful part of the country and we spent a lot of time outdoors: walking, having picnics, playing mini-golf, biking, going up ski lifts, and, on one occasion, watching a wild black bear playing on a fallen tree near the roadside.

2 July 2005: Mad Poets Review :-)

My poem "On Leaving" was reprinted in the latest issue of Mad Poets Review -- the poem first appeared in St. Anthony Messenger.

29 June 2005: Main Street Rag :-)

I received a contributor's copy of Main Street Rag, containing my poem "Remnants." This is my third poem to appear in Main Street Rag.

24 June 2005: Ship of Fools :-)

I received contributor's copies of Ship of Fools, containing three of my poems: "Island Voices," "Office Rainbow," and "Humidity" :-) On the home front, William is bouncing around again, and will officially be cleared for strenuous activity in a few more days.

16 June 2005: William's surgery

William's inguinal hernia surgery was yesterday, and happily the operation went very smoothly. Alas, William was very sore afterward, but he is feeling a lot better this morning. Hurray! :-)

20 May 2005: William

My son William has an inguinal hernia, and is scheduled for surgery on June 15th. This is a relatively minor and relatively common operation in children, and he should be released from hospital on the same day. Nonetheless I am somewhat stressed about it.... On the writing front, my story "A Piece of Strangeness" has been accepted by Tales of the Unanticipated.

4 May 2005: Irene G. Eneas

We have just returned from an emergency trip to England to see Andrew's grandmother, Irene G. Eneas. She died on Saturday April 30, but we did get there in time for Andrew to talk to her and to introduce her to her great granddaughter, Lucy. Mrs. Eneas was a wonderful, kind woman who was loved by many people, and she will be much missed.... In writing news, reprint rights to my story "Crew-Dog" have been accepted by the magazine Talking Dog.

2 April 2005: Ship of Fools :-)

In today's mail, I received a very encouraging letter from Ship of Fools accepting three more of my poems: "Office Rainbow," "Island Voices," and "Humidity" :-) Lest anyone is wondering, rejections still come to my mailbox, I just don't have as much time to report them, but, for old times' sake, I shall mention that I received an eleven-month story rejection from Kalliope.

15 March 2005: Lucy + Ship of Fools

The most notable event since my last update is that Lucy has turned six months old; she seems to be doing well, and is a sociable, cheerful small person. Her grandfather is visiting, and both she and William are enjoying the extra attention. On the writing front, I received my contributor's copy of the Winter 2005 Ship of Fools, containing my poem "I Will Not."

26 February 2005: Iodine Poetry Journal

Iodine Poetry Journal accepted my poem "Relativity."

25 February 2005: St. Anthony Messenger

In the past month, I have had one poem published ("Naturalization Oath Ceremony, March 21, 2003," which appeared in St. Anthony Messenger), and several rejections. The rejections included a very friendly but very slow 16-month rejection from Crab Creek, followed a few days later by their response to a query letter, in which they said that they would have replied long ago to a September 2003 submission....

24 January 2005: Star*Line

My fantasy poem "Divorce in Faery" appeared in Star*Line #28.1.

18 January 2005: Axe Factory Review

I received my contributor's copy of Axe Factory Review #18, containing my poems "Imperial History" and "The Last Time" :-) Also, after three weeks without any poetry responses, last week I received rejections from FIELD and the Massachusetts Review.

3 January 2005: Dark Regions

After a very quiet couple of weeks for the mail (though filled with Christmas festivies), I started 2005 with a most agreeable piece of mail: a friendly letter and royalty check from Dark Regions for my two collections.

Older Mailbox Blues

1995 Mailbox Blues
1996 Mailbox Blues
1997 Mailbox Blues
1998 Mailbox Blues
1999 Mailbox Blues
2000 Mailbox Blues
2001-2002 Mailbox Blues
2003-2004 Mailbox Blues

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