Terrible Tuesdays

I think I'm getting sick. Plus I just shot down an aspiring writer who cold called me, because there is nothing that annoys me more than being cold called. And now I feel bad for being curt, but I would feel worse if I had to review their terrible manuscript. Because manuscripts that come from people who don't know better than to cold call editors are inevitably terrible. But because I have the world's biggest guilt complex, I do feel bad for telling them to Google "How to find a literary agent." Even though that is, frankly, good advice. It's raining out and all I want to do is go home and eat chicken noodle soup under a flannel blanket and go back to sleep.

I'm sorry, aspiring author, okay? You sound like a nice person and I hope I didn't dash your hopes. But you shouldn't call editors and say someone gave you her name and then not be able to answer the editor's question as to who gave you her name. You shouldn't call editors, period, especially ones you don't know (that's bad manners); most of them are not phone people. Especially not on Tuesdays.

Update. I did a Google search of my own and used the handy call log feature to call back and get their email address. I then typed up tips and pasted some links and sent it.

Sigh.