*sigh*

After spending three hours on my latest Word Soup post this Sunday, I send it to the submitter, and just got this reply:

"Patrick, 

To be perfectly honest, I cannot even remember who you are or what you are supposed to be doing. Whatever it is though...please stop. I read you 'shrinking' of my opening chapter and do not agree with a single thing you have 'corrected'. Opening line too long? Okay...only short lines are acceptable. You really have no idea what you are talking about. I will not go on becuase it was all to ludicrous to be discussed. Whatever it is you do...leave me out of it and cancel whatever it was I was stupid enough to agree too with your business.

No reply necessary. Thanks."

Too bad, too, because she has some real talent.

Too bad, three, because I don't have time to come up with another *#@&ing post for this week, and this was my first after a robotics-induced hiatus.

My level of irk is high, but not as high as her level of unprofessionalism. Either she never looked at what I do on my blog, or she totally forgot and decided to be nasty about it.

For my part, I replied, 

"FYI, you asked me to boil down your work in my editing blog Word Soup (which isn't a business--I don't get paid for it), with this message:

'Hello Patrick,

I saw your post on the ABNA site and wanted to submit my under-500 word blurb. 

Cheers

[Name Redacted]'

(Attached was the sample I used.)

I'm sorry something changed in the meantime. Good luck in your endeavors."

What I wanted to reply was far less polite.

So, dear reader, thank you for checking in, but I won't have a post this week. I should have one next week, unless there's a repeat of this kind of behavior.