Q: Why do so many writers *not* follow submission guidelines?
"It's complicated."
Welcome to our weekend conversation!
I have a confession to make. Way back in yesteryear, when we were all sending our submissions by mail, I did something stupid. I did this stupid thing many, many times.
You see, in the olden days it was common practice for lit mags to request that you include a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) along with your submission. This is so lit mags could easily and freely correspond with you. Lit mags never returned your manuscript. But they would return the SASE.