Editor's Note

Dear Reader,

Last year we introduced themes to carte blanche, with a spring issue on crisis and a fall issue on obsessions. This spring, we opened the call for submissions to anything and everything, to give our writers carte blanche, as it were.

You may roll your eyes at our word play, but we are quite serious about our name. The act of writing begins with a blank sheet of paper and ends when the writer’s imagination has been captured on the page. Where we go, how we get there, and what we find on that page, is all up to the writer, no matter the subject.

In this issue, a surprising number of these explorations take place near the water: Heather Davis tries to return to the beach of her dreams, Alex Austin carries us into the Californian surf, Caitlin Cranshaw wades through jelly fish in the Indian Ocean, and Kara Sievewright’s “Wrecked Woman” falls (or is pushed) into the sea.

We invite you to embark on a voyage of discovery, watery or otherwise, and follow our contributors as they take us to places unknown and familiar. We think you will enjoy the journey.

Maria Schamis Turner, Editor