Via “The Little Professor”:http://littleprofessor.typepad.com/the_little_professor/2008/06/were-late-were.html this _Choice_ “editorial”:http://www.cro2.org/default.aspx?page=reviewdisplay&pids=3389719 on overdue reviews.
bq. Reviewers frequently need more time with assignments—and that’s usually fine with us (see FAQ, above)—and in requesting extensions (or explaining tardy submissions) they sometimes offer “excuses.” For several years we have been collecting the best of them … Excuses fall into several large categories, pathos being always a fine choice: “Sorry this is late. The spirit was willing, but the flesh had a bad cold and was wallowing in Kleenex and self-pity.” And there’s passing the buck (to your children): “We are in the adoption process and have just been notified we are receiving three children ages four, two, and one. Our world is a bit upside down at the moment.” And too busy: “Before I get to the review, I need to finish a book manuscript, move out of my house, respond to a divorce settlement, go out of town (twice), and file my taxes.” The overworked/wild beast combo—always a winner: “I have become an accidental library director at a time when we are doubling the size of the library and I am up to my neck in alligators.”