After much consideration, I have decided to halt publication of Southern Fried Weirdness. The Winter 2009 edition to be published near the end of February will be the final edition. I am accepting submissions through the end of January, and have many slots open. I encourage any past contributors to send their work my way. I would love to go out in a fashion that celebrates past contributors simply because these writers deserve to be celebrated.

This has been a very hard decision to make and has been on my mind for several months now. I will miss this project. Over the last few years, what started off as an experiment grew to become a part of my identity and integral to how I perceive myself. I have met many talented writers, editors, and publishers through this endeavor and thank all of them for their support, friendship, and encouragement.

At this point, you’re probably asking, If it’s been so great why are you closing shop? Frankly, I have been reassessing many things in my life, and this project is taking time and resources from my family and my writing. I recently read an interview with Patrick Swenson of Talebones. This quote pretty much sums up my reason for closing down the magazine: “I had many editors tell me I could say goodby to my writing if I was going to edit and publish. They’ve been right.” There is so much truth here. I encourage any wannabe editor (who holds any writing aspirations whatsoever) to read this sentence closely.

When I first started this project, I could devote around one-tenth of my writing time to editing and get things done in a timely fashion. This is no longer the case. I spend approximately nine-tenths of the time I would normally devote to writing to editorial tasks (reading submissions, responding to submissions, editing text, formatting web pages, verifying market listings are correct, handling queries, etc.). I am proud of the growth I have seen with this project, but at the same time, at the rate it was growing, I would have zero writing time left to me by the end of the year.

I really miss reading for pleasure. Here lately, it takes me a couple months to get through an average length novel where it used to take me less than a couple weeks.  My reading time is used reading submissions.  When I do read for fun, I find myself reading with a critical editorial eye that often takes me out of the story.

I am tired of writing rejections. I would like more time to work with critique groups and help build up other writers instead of tearing them down. That would be nice for a change.  I started out writing personal comments on every rejection, trying to encourage and help authors grow or at least understand why their story did not work for my market. Due to the number of submissions and time constraints this has grown impossible and I am writing quick rejection notes that have a cold feel no matter how nicely I format my words.

I have always seen myself as a writer, but never saw myself as an editor. I enjoy the process, have learned so much from having tried it, and would love the opportunity to work on an occasional themed anthology here and there for the right publisher in the future, but an ongoing magazine has become too much for me to handle alone without sacrificing aspects of my life I have no interest in sacrificing. I need more time to read, to dream, and to live – I know a lot of you out there can understand this sentiment.