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I’ve pasted below the e-mail correspondence between one of the faculty advisors of the literary magazine and myself. Start at the bottom of this post and read your way up. I deleted the identifying information. I am annoyed that I did not receive a letter notifying me about this, and now I have to wait another year before the poem sees the light of day in print. Hmph! To complicate matters, I’ve entered this poem into an anthology contest that accepts previously published poems; I am wondering what I will do if this poem is selected to be in the anthology. The anthology is slated to be published later this year. I’ll have to withdraw the poem from the contest if it comes to that because I signed a contract to have the literary magazine publish it first. I should probably notify the anthology contest about this issue and avoid a possibly awkward situation that may or may not happen in the future.

No other real news. I finished a major work deadline last week and took some time off. I think that I am close to finishing the first drafts of two new poems.

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Sent: Mon 6/5/2006 6:29 AM

Gerald,

Yes, your poem will be published in issue #2, which will come out in April of next year. The current issue will go in the mail out to you today.

Again, thank you for your patience.

XXXX

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Sent: Sun 6/4/2006 2:03 PM

Dr. XXXX:

Thank you very much for the reply. So, if I understand you correctly, my poem "Drive" will be in the second issue of XXX, right? When is the second issue slated to be published?

Here is my home address:

XXXXX

Best,

Gerald Huml
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Sent: Sat 6/3/2006 9:14 AM

Gerald Huml,

I'm glad you emailed me. As a writer I know how frustrating it must be not to hear back in a timely manner about your work. Our editors dropped the ball in not emailing you about your poem. I apologize. Once the semester ends, they run out of this place like the building is on fire.

You should have received a letter saying your poem is being published, but was pushed back to our upcoming issue. The current issue is two hundred pages long and we moved a fair amount of work (including yours) back to the next issue.

If you send me your surface mail address I'll get a copy of the current issue out to you and again, my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

Dr. XXX XXXX
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Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:19 AM

Professor XXXX1 and Professor XXXX2:

I noticed that you are the faculty advisors for XXXX, so I am hoping that you can assist me. My poem "Drive" was accepted in December 2005 for publication in XXXX's premier issue. One of the managing editors informed me that contributor copies would be mailed out in April. I have since inquired twice by e-mail about when I can expect to receive my contributor copies, but no answers have been forthcoming.

I recently noticed that XXXX has a new under construction web site. The link below looks like a list of contributors for the premier issue of XXXX, but I do not see my name listed (Gerald Huml). I am beginning to wonder if something happened, and my poem was not published in XXXX. I inquired about this with one of the managing editors, but I have not heard back. Perhaps the managing editors are gone for the summer.
(link deleted)

Would one of you please e-mail me back and let me know if my poem "Drive" is indeed in the premier issue of XXX? Also, if you know anything about when I may receive my contributor copies, that would be appreciated. If there was some kind of a problem and my poem has not been published, I would appreciate knowing that as well and learning the reasons why if you know. I would like to send my poem to other literary magazines ASAP if it has not been published by XXXX.

Thank you in advance for you assistance.

Regards,

Gerald Huml