Looking Ahead
the letter from the editor as featured on page 5 of the June 2019 issue of Blank Spaces
Snow still fell at the beginning of May as I put the last touches on this issue’s layout. I felt burdened by the weather, by this weighty long winter that threatened to pull at every silver-lining I struggled to cling to. My motivation was thin, my office was chilly, and it felt like the sun would never return to its full summer glory.
What a blessing to be able to lose myself in the strong work of this issue, in the vivid language and the bursts of colour — a welcome reprieve from the grey beyond my window.
It’s incredible to think this is the twelfth issue of Blank Spaces. We have ourselves an even dozen and they are all so beautiful. When I look on my shelf and see the growing row of issues, I can’t help but feel a tremendous sense of pride and wonder. We’ve come a long way, baby, and we’ve got a long way to go!
Three years of publications. I am thankful for every contributor that has graced these pages and I look forward to the many more I will meet along the way. It’s no small feat to produce a magazine, but with the support of my team, and the buy-in from authors, artists, and readers like you, I can picture myself years down the road, still doing this very thing.
For Christmas of 2016, mere months after the first issue was released, my eldest son gave me a story he’d written; in fact, he’d written a personal story for each member of our family about where he saw us in the future. My story placed me at the fifteenth anniversary of Blank Spaces and it concluded with these words:
“She started at the very bottom. No government funding or large investors, just a dream and some coffee. But that dream quickly found its way into the hearts of thousands of Canadians… Blank Spaces still had a lot of growing to do, but to many Canadians, it was the best magazine in the world.”
Blank Spaces doesn’t have to be the best, but it does have to make a difference. I am so proud that every issue has held the work of Canadians who have never been published before — what a privilege to play a role in the creative journey of emerging writers as well as those who are well established in the publishing world! There’s something beautiful about placing a newcomer beside a veteran and it’s my intention to always maintain this policy of showcasing new writers.
Fifteen years is a long way away, but I have no doubt, if you as readers and contributors keep believing, we will get there. In the meantime, I hope you’ll consider joining the team and I at Creeds Coffee Bar in Toronto on September 21 as we celebrate our third anniversary and the release of our third anthology, Just Words Volume 3. Check out the advertisement on the back of this issue for more information. I hope to see you there!
Alanna Rusnak, Editor-in-Chief
