The one and one-half woman operation of a small literary magazine.

Maybe it's different with secretaries, graphic departments, and a business manager. But Weeds Corner magazine has survived, and prospered, without such glitz.
With the idea of providing payment and encouragement through publication for
writers, Weeds Corner began in November, 2001. Personally, I was tired of reading literary magazines which specialized in erotica, violence, obscure purposes, and fourteen letter words, three to a sentence.
Why can't "family friendly" stories and articles be published? A noble thought, thought I. So, on the premise that weeds endure and sometimes heal, irritate, or even please the emotion I began.
Remember how all your friends are writers? Ha! Try getting them to turn in stories, essays, poetry. Former students with real talent hid from me. Members of my writer's group politely declined because they wanted publication in name magazines, not stapled pages from the local Staples. That was the first blow to my great idea.
Next, my cats developed my filing system. Fortunately, my writers didn't mind sending me duplicate copies of manuscripts which had been scattered, torn, or, in one hideous admission, been used as their bathroom. Add that problem to my natural ability to "mislay" envelopes and papers rather than return to a file inside a cabinet... The fact that Weeds still exists is a miracle.
One of my big thrills was in 2003 when four of my writers showed up to read poetry at an event a local museum sponsored: one from the neighboring town, one from the northern part of Indiana, and the other two from neighboring states. (This was at their own expense, by the way. No prizes, just a chance to meet and read. I love my writers. We e-mail on holidays and share tragedies. As one put it, the magazine is a "meeting place for friends". Our youngest contributor is now in her 30's, the eldest in her 90's.
In 2006, we made some changes. First of all, I was forced, thanks to postage and other costs and a dwindling subscription base to reduce payment to a penny a word. I considered dropping the whole idea because I wanted to finish and publish a collection of short stories and novellas - From the Cornfield Ghetto.
I could not believe the protests so I decided to offer some friends in Pendleton the opportunity to put together the Summer 2006 issue. They did a fine job, and I finished my book.
In 2007, Weeds will only appear three times. Why? I'm working on a sequel to Ghetto which should be published by mid-summer. Therefore, Weeds will only appear in winter, a spring and summer combination, and a fall and holiday combination.
A former student originally did my covers; now I do them myself. (Which is not necessarily better, just faster since she moved to Arizona.) I also took over my website which is still a fiasco. (I managed to delete my home page on my second effort to update. And updating is one of the tasks which I tend to delay to the end of my to-do list.) Sorry about that.
Another friend proof-reads.
But I'm to blame for everything else. Thanks to a writer's magazine, our contributors range from Maine to Washington -- coast to coast coverage.
Maybe I should offer a free cat to all
new marketing sources? Or perhaps a better idea might be to take one of theirs if they stock my magazine or book.
But it has been and will continue to be a thrill to open an e-mail or an envelop and find an interesting idea or a new writer.