The List

...of what I should do today:

• Read 6 slush stories and decide whether to reject or pass on to the board for further consideration
• Read or reread the 9 stories already before the board and figure out what to do with them
• Obsessively proof the Autumn issue
• Sign contracts for the Winter issue and pay the authors
• Catch up on accounting and other record-keeping
• Catch up on miscellaneous e-mail
• Do a revision pass on a story
• Laundry and miscellaneous other domesticities - at least it is raining, so I don't feel obligated to put any yard work on the list
• Read a few books and magazines from my looming "to read right now" pile
• Return library books
• Go to Ben Bova's reading

If I were superhuman, I'd also be trying to do some edits on the Winter issue stories, so that I'm not frantically doing those at the last minute - but I think the list is long enough already. And I have to do it all with a kitten on my lap or sitting on the desk in front of me - she's fascinated by the monitor and the way text scrolls, and keeps trying to swat at the cursor.

Reading the slush stories is pretty easy; all I have to decide is if the story merits another look. Making final decisions, though, is tougher. The stories that make it to the board all have some really good parts, and usually some weaknesses; it's a matter of deciding if the weaknesses are fixable, and if they are fixable, is it a story that we'll love?

Maybe I'll get lucky and find something in my slush or in the board stories that I just love unconditionally. It happens.