For the past two months I’ve had the opportunity to serve as one of two anthology coordinators for the 2024 edition of the Ohio Writers’ Association anthology. I was hesitant to take it on because I don’t have much experience but the theme, Should This Book be Banned?, was one that I felt passionate about. I wanted to watch the various perspectives blend together to form something beautiful and maybe I could be a small part of that.

I’m used to pouring my heart and soul into my writing, editing and cutting to fit word limits and submitting my pieces to journals and other publications and waiting with tense muscles for the possibility of being published and my work being shared in a larger way. So it has definitely been weird to be on the other side of that equation. I know what these pieces, these babies, mean to the folks who submitted them. These are slivers of their gut, their prized possessions that they have chosen to share with me.

I didn’t expect to feel like a kid at a birthday party staring at a mountain of presents. And don’t get me wrong, every piece is not the Malibu Barbie Dreamhouse that you asked for, but each gift contains something wonderful. My job now is to carefully examine each present and determine if I want to keep it. I can’t quietly tuck them away in a drawer. I have to take some of these careful creations and return them to their artist with a heartfelt apology and a maybe next time.

I guess I’m talking to myself more than anyone else here, but all this is to say…don’t take rejections too personally. How? I don’t know. Each one still stings to me but I can also see how many brilliant, interesting pieces will be left on the cutting room floor. It’s a numbers game.

Be on the lookout in the next few months for the release of our 2024 anthology. I can’t wait to share all of these beautiful gifts with you.