Remember That Journal I Asked About?

A few weeks ago, I posted a question about what to do when it has been almost a year since you'd heard about a journal submission, and the editor keeps giving you the runaround. After hearing people's thoughts, I'd decided that I was going to wait until it had been a full year since the first email from the editor saying they had received my essay and then email them, asking for a response and saying I really appreciate the opportunity for feedback but saying that I would send it elsewhere after two weeks. That was the plan, at least.

Sunday night, when I went to check email before bed, there was a message from one of the members of the editorial collective. They liked the essay and thought it was a great fit for the journal and wanted one change "before a final review prior to publication." And the change was pretty simple. I'm writing about specific moments related to my teaching of issues related to gender and sexual identity, and I presented the discussion through the framework of my body, what it means when my body is in the classroom teaching different things. They said that it seemed I was talking more about identity than the body, so they wanted a shift in how I framed the essay. And that makes perfect sense to me. So, I spent this afternoon making those changes and emailed it back to them tonight.

I admit that I'm not getting my hopes up too fast, though. First, the email thanked me for resubmitting my essay. But this was the initial submission. I'd never received a revise-and-resubmit request. And I wrote back Monday saying I could get the revision to them soon, asking how they wanted to receive it. I hadn't heard anything, though we're just approaching the third day after I sent it. If they really think it's that close to publication, then fantastic. I thought it needed more work, but that's why I needed responses. Considering how the timing has gone so far, it may still be a long time before this moves forward, but I made the requested change and got it out of my inbox fast.