If the tweedy, pipe-smoking old guys in the past could stuff a card into an envelope, I want to know what’s so hard about replying to an email.

Excellent question!

I edited a dozen humor books and I used to turn rejected material around right in the post office! I’d open the envelope and if the first few paragraphs indicated that the piece wasn’t for me, it would go right into the SASE with a politely-worded form rejection. (Or right into the trash if there were no SASE).

As a writer myself, I felt that it was rude to keep somebody waiting forever for a NO.