Notes from the Editor

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR I am writing to all members of RMMLA to ask you to consider submitting your essays to the Rocky Mountain Review ofLanguage and Literature. I usually put out a notice at the annual convention encouraging members to submit essays, and in the Fall 1989 Review I included an essay, "From Plain Vanilla to Sour Grapes: What Readers Say about Prospective Articles," in which I discussed comments our expert readers made about the essays that they read. Since it's been almost four years since that essay and since not everyone is able to attend the annual convention, I am using this space to encourage you to submit the article you are completing now for possible publication in the Review. We have a policy of double-blind reviewing—the outside readers do not know who wrote the essay, and you are not told who those reviewers are. Any references to your own work within an essay should be done as if you were citing someone else's book or article. The turn-around time for essays varies greatly. I try to get readers' responses back to authors within 3-4 months, but there are exceptions. The time will be longer in the summer when many faculty members are away from their universities. Now and then it takes me several weeks to locate two experts able to read the article within the 6-8 week turn-around time I stipulate. And occasionally an outside reader is unable to get a response ready in the time she or he expected. But I try to keep the paper moving and call and write to readers to remind them that you are waiting to hear about your essay. From acceptance to publication is usually 6 months to a year. The main caveat>—summarizing my own 1989 essay in 25 words or less— is DON'T SUBMIT UNREVISED CONFERENCE PAPERS. Almost invariably the outside readers recognize that these are, or seem like, conference papers because they are abbreviations of a full discussion and do not include the background and context as fully as most well-developed essays do. As you prepare your essay, you might be thinking about the questions on our standard questionnaire to expert readers: "Is the style clear and readable ? Does the article make a thoughtful and original contribution to the discipline? Is the critical method sound? Does the article appear sufficiently aware of previous criticism? Are facts and references accurate?" Remember also—as you can see from the variety of materials in this issue—that we accept poetry and short fiction and translations of poetry and short fiction. Details of our submission guidelines are published on the inside back cover ofthis issue. I would like to increase the variety of materials in the Review. Any topic that is acceptable for presentation in a paper at the annual RMMLA convention is appropriate for submission to the Rocky Mountain Review—literature in many languages (and we do accept articles in French, German, Italian, and Spanish as well as English), linguistics, pedagogy, technical communication, creative writing, expository writing, popular culture, folklore , computers and language teaching, and many other topics are within the range of professional interests of RMMLA members and therefore appropriate to our journal. Please call or write ifyou have any questions: phone (208) 385-3426; fax (208) 385-4373. Carol A. Martin Editor, Rocky Mountain Review ...