Why don't you email him and ask for his help?

Oh, crap. Sorry about the mishap with UPS. I didn't want to trust something invaluable like my crits to the ravages of the US Postal Service or UPS, so I bought an extra bag just for books and manuscripts to carry onto the plane with me. I hope that folder turns up--Swanwick's line edits and critiques are gold.

(a) Swanwick's line-edits are dramatic, and they're fantastic for dissecting your own writing and learning from that, but in terms of shaping up a story for publishing, there's so much stripping that you've got nothing left by the end, so you might actually be better off without them.

(b) The ____ story was excellent, and I got the impression Swanwick was giving you big compliments: that you're already a writer and that every other aspect of the story is successfully in place, so it's too bad about the fatal flaw. But just because he couldn't think of a solution doesn't mean there isn't one, and it sounds like you made it work. Excited to find out what you've done to it!

(c) Yeah, your handwriting, man.

Steve: I'm far enough along in the revision that the line edits aren't going to help this particular story anymore. At this point, I would agree with what Felice said, I would want them more to look at patterns in my writing style and ways to make my prose more appropriate for Swanwick-friendly markets. I think I've got enough from my notes to address (or not) the big issues he had with it. And my social anxiety already makes it difficult to ask for help. That I already feel bad that he had to trudge through the story once makes this one a non-option.

Eugene: Thanks, yeah. I don't know what I was thinking.

Felice: (a) I don't know about better off without them, but, yeah, at this point they're not going to help this particular story so much as help me get better at cutting/improving everything. (b) Thanks. (c) Yeah, but it comes in handy in case my roommate wants to read my diary.

I finally remember this story. But what was that fatal flaw again? Oh yeah. To be honest, that flaw never seemed that fatal to me. It could easily be explained away with a line or a paragraph of dialogue.

Thanks, Rahul. Yeah, Swanwick's take on the story differs from mine as well, and I think it's indicative how the SF element of an SF story is usually the least interesting thing to me about it. I've significantly changed the story from that standpoint, but the more difficult issue (to me) was one of those internal-consistency issues that (in my view) no amount of hand-waving can justify.

Back to work.