431 days and counting

A few weeks ago, remember, I posted that Mundania had emailed me saying that I'd hear their final decision soon. And I did point out that it was very nice of them to keep me updated. I still think that was an awesome piece of graciousness.

I say this mostly because I'm about to do some whining about how long they've taken to decide on my book, and I want to keep it all in perspective. It has taken them a long time, but they've been very nice about it. Plus waiting for the decision is kind of fun in a really weird way, like peeling dead skin off an old sunburn.

That said, after midnight tonight they are officially the publisher that's taken the longest to get back to me. I know because the only publisher that's ever taken this long was Baen, where I subbed (a different manuscript) on Dec. 1, 2006 and received a rejection on Feb. 4, 2007, which was one year ago today. I subbed to Mundania on Dec. 1, 2007 and, hmm, I haven't heard a yes or no yet. And actually, 2008 was a leap year so they've already passed that magical longer-than-Baen threshold.

Baen rejected me, yes, but they also sent a very in-depth and useful critique of the manuscript. That still floors me.

So I've decided that, since it's very easy to say NO to a manuscript, either someone at Mundania really likes my book and is fighting hard for it, which is awesome (except that that implies that someone else hates it just as much), or there's some other reason why I haven't yet heard back, such as:

1. They did actually send the email but my spam filter ate it.
2. The person who makes final decisions is in a) a coma, b) Sri Lanka with someone he/she met on the internet and the entire acquisitions budget for 2009, c) jail, or d) St. Fraught's Home for the Criminally Insane.
3. Someone at Mundania finds my impatience and anxiety...amusing.

Anyway, we're now in an uncharted territory of anxiety. Because, you know, the whole spam filter thing....