The editor I wrote to yesterday morning wasn't the one who sent me the rejection; that was the assistant editor. But he (the editor) replied to my e-mail (which was nice), saying he never read my story (which was disappointing). He wrote that his assistant "read the article carefully and passed it on to me to read. I am just hopelessly far behind with manuscripts right now, mainly because I am pushing hard to finish a book I’m writing."
This fell clearly into the category of too much information. It made me seriously envious (so he has a job AND a book contract). It also made me wonder what writing a book has to do with running a magazine. Presumably he is not writing his book while on the job. Would an editor write to a disgruntled freelancer explaining that he is a single father with five adopted children at home?
I was tempted to send back an e-mail: "I'll be sure to buy the book that kept you from reading my story." But I refrained.
