Sometimes, the span between issues seems enormous when I think about everything that happens in that space. Since our second anniversary edition in September, we released a new anthology (Just Words Volume 2, coming out as the number two new release in Canadian collections and readers on Amazon in its first week); we took to the Toronto Harbour Front for Word on the Street (so nice to chat with so many readers and contributors there!)…

The complete table of contents for the December 2018 issue of Blank Spaces.

Two years ago, September 2016, I was in my day-job office when the mail-lady delivered the first issue of Blank Spaces. My hands shook as I opened the package, dread coursing through me as I thought of all the people who had pre-ordered the debut edition based on my bold promotion. The night before I had dreamed the issues arrived printed on tissue paper, stapled together haphazardly. Everything was on the line—at least, it felt that way. My reputation, my pride, my future. I had a vision of bringing Canadians together, who, like me, were tired of rejection, tired of the ‘you must be published to get published’ Catch-22, desperate for a place to belong. I pictured a beautiful, glossy piece of art that anyone would be loathe to ignore; something that would be cherished in a collection rather than discarded in a recycling bin.

The complete table of contents for the September 2018 issue of Blank Spaces.

This edition of Blank Spaces marks the eighth issue. That’s eight collections of Canadian art and literature launched into the world!

The complete table of contents for the June 2018 issue of Blank Spaces.

If you’re anything like me, winter has a way of beating you down. We romanticize memories of summer and lament the long months using snowman and crying face emojis. In true Canadian spirit, we leave our footprints in the snow, wrap our mittened hands around a Tim Horton’s cup, and increase our forearm muscles as we tackle the ice on our cars each morning. And, on the days when the mercury dips so low our furnaces and wood stoves can’t keep up, we sit in our   offices donning toques, scarves, and wool sweaters, repeating the life-giving mantra: this too shall pass.

The complete table of contents for the March 2018 issue of Blank Spaces.