The Slush Pile

Abigail Thomas

Word Count 323

In 1979, Chuck Verrill was hired as the new slush reader for the Viking Press. I was the old slush reader, so it was my job to train him. Slush was the lowliest of jobs, but it took place in a tiny office with a door that closed and a window that opened, and we sat and we smoked and we opened every manuscript that came without an agent, and all letters addressed to Editor in Chief, took a look at everything and then and sent everything back. If something was especially funny or awful we’d read it aloud to the other. It was a good way to get to know someone. 

God knows there was a lot to laugh at in slush pile, but there was also a certain poignancy to much of what we looked at. People desperate to tell their stories, but oh so badly. Some of those letters stuck with us. I remember one, in particular, was from a guy who had managed the produce department of some big supermarket and wanted to write a novel about his experiences there, he had seen so much, he said. He had addressed the letter to the editor in chief and of course, it came to us in slush. He needed advice, on how to do it. The letter ended, “I’ll do anything you say.” And although just uttering those words at odd moments over the next forty years could still make us laugh, it wasn’t a mean laugh, we laughed because it was all so hopeless. I remember once Chuck said, apropos of what I don’t remember, “It isn’t about making the cosmic joke, it's about getting it.”

Abigail has four children, twelve grandchildren, one great grandchild, two dogs, and a high school education. Her books include Safekeeping; A Three Dog Life; and What Comes Next and How to Like It. She lives in Woodstock, NY