Godspeed, little paper...

(One one of the old episodes of the Simpsons, where they were out camping? on a boy scout trip? Something? one of the groups got lost and had to (for some reason) fish. And all I remember is Ned Flanders putting his group's last Cheez Doodle on a hook, throwing it in the water, and saying "Godspeed, little Doodle." I always think that, for some reason, when I send a paper out for review. Maybe it's because I fundamentally feel like every paper I send out is a long shot....)

Anyway. I sent off a (painstakingly put into the format required - 14 whole pages of instructions and I followed every got-dang one) manuscript well over a month ago to a journal. I vacillated between being worried about it ("I haven't heard ANYTHING. They must not have received it!") and totally forgetting that I had sent it off.

Well, finally, today, I received acknowledgment: an e-mail from the editor.

And I thought: well, considering it's been so long, it's probably been rejected out of hand, this will be his response:

But it wasn't! It was a "Oh hai, we sent your paper out for review!" letter.

So that's a relief: they've received it, and at least it's going to get a review. (And if they don't want it, I know another journal that might, so I can always resubmit.)