I love every issue of TCLJ and our latest is finally up (June is always a jam-packed month for us all). I did another Snark Zone, I helped to judge the Spring “Three Cheers and a Tiger” entries (that was a lot of fun), and I made an editor’s pick in addition to all the excellent pieces we had.

Sometimes the hardest part of making final choices is narrowing down my Editor Pick. It’s a piece that would be cut unless salvaged by a single editor. I chose “Fat Peanut” because it captured the Florida I know and each time I opened the story to reread it, I fell right back into it. For me, that’s always a good sign. If memory serves, I had three good pieces on my EP shortlist.

So if you submit something that makes first cut and ends up not getting in (whether it’s to TC or another journal), please don’t be discouraged. Yours may have been the heartbreaker I had to set aside simply because another submission touched something different in me on the day I made my choice.

Keep writing!