So I wonder if I should include a little disclaimer on my cover note when I send out my next batch of story submissions:

If you’ve already seen a version of this story—or, worse, have it in your slush pile and haven’t gotten around to rejecting it yet—please forgive me. My hard-drive died and I lost all record of where I sent things. Also, I have a horrible memory. Also, I tend to stow rejection slips in weird places all over the apartment, so if you sent me one already I may have lost it forever, or destroyed it, or fed it to the mouse.

p.s. I am not as much of a flake as I may sound.

p.p.s. Fine. Maybe I am.

p.p.p.s. But would that matter if you like the story?

In reality I’m just going to avoid mention of it and hope I don’t make a fool of myself, or annoy any important people, in the process.

I also lost all my literary journal research when the hard-drive died. I had been researching good venues (print mostly) and keeping a list of journals that read during the summer. Now what?

Please, if you know of some good resources for literary journal markets, email me at the address in my left-hand sidebar or comment here.