No Time for Baby Steps...

It's been about three weeks since Cezanne's Carrot premiered. Here at 'the carrot,' we all thought we'd have a chance to breathe after the frantic joy of getting the first issue birthed. Maybe even relax and use the holiday season to refresh and recharge while the journal took its baby steps into the world. We expected a trickle of submissions and maybe more questions than actual manuscripts.

Not quite.

Much to our delight, Cezanne's Carrot skipped those awkward baby steps and is now soaring ahead toward the Spring Equinox edition. Submissions started arriving just hours after we began announcing the journal and today number around 150. What's delighted us even more than the numbers is the high quality of the work we're receiving. We can't thank writers enough. We've begun accepting pieces for the Spring issue, and we can't wait to see how the rest of the issue billows into shape.

This journal, to a large extent, was a leap of faith. Not an uneducated leap, mind you, but still a leap. And instead of falling down, scraping knees and toes, we're thrilled to find air buoying our fledgling wings. It's been a good reminder to all of us at Cezanne's Carrot that the only way to soar is to leave the safety of the ground and launch into the unknown.

May you find your own way to soar today.

Premiere Issue Is Birthed!

With 20 minutes to go before midnight on the Winter Solstice (Eastern time, that is), we uploaded the first issue Cezanne's Carrot to the Web. Suddenly, after months of planning and weeks of intense activity, our "baby" was born in the world.

It almost seemed unreal (surreal? irreal? magically real? -- all of which are welcome at the Carrot). Working from our individual offices in various parts of the United States, we shot off emails to each other by the billions (or so it seemed), used the telephone when we wanted to ground ourselves with a human voice, and overnight-mailed CDs containing electronic art files. It was an intense time, and yet it seemed as though everything just fell into place as though it was meant to happen. An auspicious beginning for a literary journal that believes in things like synchronicity and serendipity!

In the week since, we've gotten lots of wonderfully supportive comments from people in the writing community. Many believe Cezanne's Carrot will fill a small, but noticeable, hole in the world of published literature -- a place where writing and art that sees connections beyond the five phsyical senses is celebrated and shared with the world.

Do come by and sit for some time in our little corner at Cezanne's Carrot. Take a few minutes to soak in the beautiful photo collages of Christopher Clements and to ponder the wonders and mysteries so eloquently voiced in the prose and poetry of our first contributors.

Then let us know what you think!

What compels you to read or write literature with a "spiritual" bent? (See the Editors' Page and our Submission Guidelines on www.cezannescarrot.org for some definitions of that genre of writing.) What do you think is the role of such writing? What are some of your favorite works in this genre?

Let's keep talking!

Welcome!

The new literary journal Cezanne's Carrot is just about ready to open its webdoors. The inaugural issue, premiering on the Winter Solstice, 2005, features fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction from nationally known writers Joan Logghe, Thomas R. Smith, and Lyn Lifshin, as well as the very talented writers Pam Wynn, Paul Alan Fahey, Antonios Maltezos, Louisa Howerow, and Mary Estrada. This edition also features the photographs and photo collages of Santa Fe artist Christopher Clements.

The name Cezanne's Carrot was inspired by a quote from the artist Paul Cezanne: "The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution." In this issue and all that follow, we intend bring you the fresh observations that can trigger a revolution of thought and vision, fresh observations that can help illuminate the world.

Join us at Cezanne's Carrot on the twenty-first of December. Take some time to read the fine selections, and if you're a writer or visual artist, check out our submission guidelines. On the twenty-first, we'll open for submissions for the Spring Equinox Issue, which will go live in March of 2006.

We'll use this blog as our announcement list--for updates, changes, exciting news from Cezanne's Carrot--as well as a place where we'll share our experiences as spiritual writers ourselves. So check back often.

Thank you for your interest in Cezanne's Carrot. If you have any questions or like what you see, let us know. Leave a comment here or email us at: editors@cezannescarrot.org.

(Photo credit: Cloud Cover by Christopher Clements)