Dear loyal readers,

I have decided to put The Chamber on hiatus from March 11 until April 1 after which The Chamber will become a monthly magazine. There will be no March 11, March 18, or March 25 issues. This is something I have been contemplating for several months.

I will run this issue’s (March 4) cover for a week, after which it will be replaced with a notice about the hiatus. All stories, poetry, and other material will continue to be available. I will even update the blog occasionally.

The first reason I have for this is time management. Running a weekly magazine of 6-7 stories/poems every issue takes up considerable time, which I could use to finish a novel I have had in the works for a few years. This is also time I could use for personal matters such as visiting family. You may have not realized this, but this is a one-man operation. My time is limited as it is, as I have a 40-hour/week day job to keep a roof over my head and the barbeque occasionally rolling in.

The second reason I am doing this is a drop in the number of submissions over the last few weeks. When I started The Chamber, I was receiving a lot of submissions. Coming up with several stories per issue was easy. I could even have 3-4 issues prepared in advance allowing me time for personal matters. Submissions have slowed in the past few weeks making it tricky to maintain approximately the same length for each issue. Sometimes I find myself hoping that I will have enough material for the upcoming issue. By going to a monthly format, I will be able to take the same number of stories and poems coming in currently, and maybe double (more or less) the length of each issue, and have a few issues prepared in advance to automatically publish themselves when the first of each month rolls around. I am hoping that going to a monthly format will also help The Chamber improve in terms of quality. A monthly format will afford me more time to concentrate on the details of each story and poem and on the details of each issue.

For the time being, any stories and poems that were slated to appear in the March 11 issue will now appear in the April 1 issue.

Honestly, I wish I did not have to go this route. I love reading the high-quality, creative material submitted and doing the minimal editing sometimes required. Though I will still be doing these tasks, I will be doing them less.

I also love interacting frequently with the authors and poets, who are all terrific people. I have had no conflicts with anyone in the year and two months I have been publishing The Chamber (I wish I could say the same for my day job). Working with The Chamber’s contributors in a field that I love and enjoy is like going outside and playing with the neighborhood kids when in grade school. Unfortunately, I now have to go back in the house for a while and do my homework. I will be coming out to play now and then though.

Sincerely,

Phil Slattery

Founder, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, Graphic Designer, Head Honcho, Gopher, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer