Currently Closed to Submissions

This is a little bit of a rant, because I've been doing more brainstorming/writing than reading lately.

I'm becoming a little frustrated by the fact that every time I have fiction to submit I find that the Canadian magazines are "currently closed to submissions". Some of them are worse for this than others, but overall it's quite frustrating to me, because I really would like to submit my stuff to Canadian mags at some point.

Overall, I've read quite a few of their "best of" anthologies and such, and I am impressed with the quality. I also think there is something of a unique Canadian flavor within the genre. My biggest/easiest example is Robert J Sawyer, whose writing often directly deals with Canadian settings or themes, but also often has a lot of indirect style and mood-related things that feel Canadian. However, I have so far been more or less unable to submit to these magazines because every time I look they're backed up or changing their submission system or what have you.

I was pleased when On Spec switched over to an online submission system thinking that this would make it more accessible for me as a writer. (On a side note I'm generally impressed with the way many magazines have made the switch to online sub systems, especially the fact that a lot of them have the same look and feel.) However, On Spec still has these lengthy hiatuses that get on my nerves, so I haven't yet been able to try their new system out.

And it's not just the Canadian magazines - many other magazines have very limited reading periods. However, I have found the Canadian ones to the most consistently closed and the most unpredictable as well.

Of course, it's not entirely their fault. Some of the blame does go to my own weird schedule and the fact that I will often stop writing for months and then go back to it and so on. I guess one day my own writing schedule will align with theirs and I will be able to submit, but until then I do wish they would get more editors or something to make the process more consistent. Fantasy mag, Clarkesworld, and Lightspeed somehow manage to be open to submissions year-round...

I should go back to writing something useful/more coherent now.

Before I go though, if anyone actually reads these blog posts I'm still looking for book recommendations.