Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The life of a literary editor

I've removed this post because I've had some success with the abusive email I'd posted here, having tracked down the sender's ISP and reported him. Since I also now know who he is, and have received three more abusive emails from him - utterly unpublishable, I'm afraid - it might prejudice any chance I have of pursuing this rather sad character if I leave this post here.

Pity. I was rather enjoying roasting the idiot in public.

Thanks for all your support!

And do visit Richard Dawkins' excellent site, as I suggested, for a taste of what I've been putting up with for the past day or so.

11 comments:

Bo said...

God, what an utter cunt.

Matt Merritt said...

I'd publish his surname. Let other editors see what a twat they're dealing with.

Marion McCready said...

Man alive! There are some scary people out there writing poetry. I hope you're getting paid danger money for your position, lol!

Jane Holland said...

Who'd be an editor, huh?

David Lumsden said...

I seem to remember some Buddhist thing along the lines of "Why should you be upset if one tree in the forest is stunted and twisted?" ... not much help. When I did time editing I found that there was a very strong correlation between the professionalism of the interaction and the quality of the work. The poet with ten books published was glad for some feedback on the submitted work. Of course there were some who replied to a rejection with the list of 50 obscure litmags which had previously accepted work thus proving that I was an arrogant fool.

Unknown said...

Horrible email to receive, Jane, horrible. Still, for every bad 'un, there are a lot more gud 'uns... aren't there..?

And congratson the poem in Poetry Review - I hope you get more emails like that :)

Group 8 said...

Oh. My. God.
And then these types wonder why no one will publish their book etc etc. What a vile e-mail to send someone.

I agree with David, above, who said: 'When I did time editing I found that there was a very strong correlation between the professionalism of the interaction and the quality of the work.'
I have also found this. In fact, I almost didn't publish one man's work because I had met him in person and found him difficult. I relented (because I liked his piece) and he turned out to be OK.
Other writers have been difficult (i.e preciousness about every full stop etc) but I've never had such horribleness thrown at me. Yet.

Rob said...

Sorry to hear about this, Jane. There are plenty of unhinged people out there who write poetry, that's for sure.

Next time anyone asks you about free copies, you could always reply, "As many as you want!"

Jane Holland said...

Yep.

Unlimited copies of Horizon Review! Grab 'em while stocks last!

Lol. ;)

Dan said...

"There are plenty of unhinged people out there who write poetry, that's for sure."

*sweats nervously* Will I be found out...?

I'm slightly disappointed to have arrived too late to see the offending article, although my interest is at least half-prurient, so better this, maybe.

Jane Holland said...

But Dan, since you're in the happy position of being able to sidle up to me after a lecture sometime and get the gory details in private, why worry?

Besides which, you already know you're strange, and you know I know you're strange, et cetera. All poets are strange. That's what marks us out from prose writers. Enjoy it!