My Favorite Anecdote About the Short Story Submission Process

I heard this from someone who heard it from the writer involved. Since I haven't independently verified the story, I won't use their real names.

Just think of this as a koan.

A writer who'd just published a dazzling short story collection met the editor of a top literary magazine. The editor said, "I loved your story collection. Why didn't you submit any of those stories to my magazine?"

The writer said, "I submitted all those stories to you, and you rejected all of them."

The editor said, "Well... I don't remember that... anyways, send me your next story!"

The writer duly submitted his next story to the editor. It came back with a form rejection slip on which the editor had written, Now I remember.