HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW
by Carrie Berry

Putting out a journal of fiction and poetry is much like working in the garden: ideas are planted, nurtured, tended and pruned and, with any luck and a lot of persistence, the fabled grasshopper can enjoy the harvest even if the work of the editorial ants is never quite done.

The May issue never set out to be a guy thing, but at some point during the production we noticed that all of the contributions were written by men, so FIVE O-CLOCK SHADOW was born. It seemed only natural that an issue with work contributed by female authors should follow.

That task was a bit trickier than imagined. Word got out we were doing a "women's issue" and submissions started hitting the box that were all, well, womany. We weren't looking for stories and poems about women but rather excellent works created by women. Once collected, we settled on the appropriate title NEVER DONE. In spite of the old-fashioned garden graphics inspired by Elizabeth Glixman's wonderful cover art, the themes touched on in this grouping are quite contemporary treatments of the cycle of birth-life-death. We hope you will enjoy reading them.

This issue is the sixth print version of the Gazette and marks the halfway mark in this publishing year. As I have mentioned previously, the transition from online to print editions has provided a challenge and the evolution has been educational. The web is a lot more forgiving with shape and size issues and extra pages have no financial impact. On the other hand, a print version must have a nice physical presence and layout and page count are critical. I have always felt it was important to dedicate whole physical pages to each contributor, but one begins to see opportunities for complimentary placement of small pieces when using columns instead of full pages. The business side of things presents a different set of challenges including finding the best methods of production, distribution, possible payment to contributors, advertising potential, etc.

You will note that I have been using the word 'we' throughout this message and that the byline for the editorial message is in my name instead of one of the Gazette's fictional staff. While this is not the first time I've ever signed an editorial, it is the first time I've publicly acknowledged that the Gazette is growing strong enough to demand more than fictional assistance. In spite of my Gemini multitasking abilities, starting with the July edition, the Gazette will be adding some genuine non-fictional human additions to the masthead.

As part of the Gazette's bid to be recognized as a serious contender in the literary journal marketplace I have invited a group of advisors to help work out some of the issues. As a result, we have begun defining our goals and drafting a business plan. While it is still a bit early to publish the detail, we do intend to adopt a stricter level of quality in accepting submissions, change the format of both the online and print editions, find more cost effective means of distribution and address the needs of accessibility for readers with extraordinary challenges. Through a formal subscription plan and structured and suitable advertising, we hope to be able to pay our contributors in the 2005 publishing year.

Since the early grassroots beginnings in the summer of 2001, the Gazette has two very important things going for it:

1. A very creative and talented contributor base and
2. A hungry and loyal following of readers.

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