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Letter from the Guest Editor

Taryn White

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Sometime in January, Lynn asked me if I wanted to guest edit one last issue of Boudin as the managing editor. At that time, I was trying to complete my thesis, acclimate to a new job, prepare to defend my thesis, juggle my social and family life, not dream about my thesis, and a whole slew of other things…mostly thesis related. So I told her maybe. Only if I was struck sideways by an idea. It was after my thesis defense in late March that the idea for the Vignettes issue arrived.

The thesis I’ve spent the past year or so working on is a first draft of a novel that focuses on Ivy Guidry, a woman who is retelling various memories of her family and growing up in the South. Each chapter is its own story. Though they do link together, as memories so often do, they have a certain degree of separation that is nontraditional to both the novel and the short story. The idea for this project came to me originally in a vastly different shape than its current form, but I knew that it would be largely focused on memories. Procrastinating, or rather preparing for, my writing led me to read Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova so that I might better understand different types of memories. This is ultimately what most benefitted my writing and led to my idea for this issue.

What I requested from submitters was writing that reflected flash bulb memories, just as Genova discusses in her book and similar to what I’ve been writing for about the past year. I was not disappointed. Deciding which pieces to accept was truly difficult, but I had a blast reading through the submissions. We received an outstanding 222 submissions for this issue, which genuinely warmed my heart. I get goose bumps just thinking about the number of people inspired by the call for submissions. It not only inspires me to write but also gives me so much hope for the things that I enjoy writing.

Thank you so very much to each and every person who sent work in for consideration. Working on this issue has genuinely been such a joy. I could not have asked for a better final issue as managing editor. Furthermore, thank you to each person that I have had the pleasure of working with during my tenure with Boudin. Working with this literary magazine has revealed my love editing and publishing. Each contributor and submitter has played such a large role in that discovery. Thank you.

My appreciation also goes out to all current, past, and forthcoming Boudin staff for working with me along the way. A special thanks goes to Karris Rae who greatly encouraged me while I wrote this year, was and is one of the best friends I could have asked for, and, maybe most importantly, taught me how to WordPress. I extend this same appreciation to Lynn Watson for her guidance, experience, and willingness to teach, both in regard to Boudin and my first attempt at writing a novel. This past year would have been much more difficult without the two of them.

I’ve been working on training the new managing editor, Tyler Campbell, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what he does. To say he’s impressed me with how quickly he’s picked this all up is to put things lightly. I don’t think Lynn could have picked more capable hands to pass this off to. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Tyler for taking care of this magazine I care so deeply about and have spent the past three years helping to develop.

I hope you all enjoy reading this issue as much as I enjoyed putting it together. I hope you linger. I hope you are intrigued by the variety of relationships that ended up as the centerpiece of this issue. I hope these flashbulbs burn brightly behind your eyelids for a while. I hope these memories, even if they aren’t your own, are hard to forget.

Signing off with a tremendous amount of love,

– Taryn White

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To learn more about submitting your work to Boudin or applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program, please visit Submissions for details.