When I asked for submissions back in February 2024, I was sitting in a small room at my Mum's house while scrolling on my phone watching my daughter sleep. Things seemed calm and I hadn't put anything together for a few years. I missed doing these magazines. At the same time, I knew that by not participating in writing for a few years, Neutral Spaces would be relatively invisible and by taking people's writing I would be sharing the magazine with a much smaller community, which seemed unfair when potentially other websites could help my friends be read by larger groups of people.
I called the submission "I cannot make you famous" trying to acknowledge my own embarrassment and feelings of futility and hoped that if nothing else I would collect a few pieces by my friends. In reality, I had more submissions than I expected, and even reading them all felt difficult. As usual, the bulk of submissions would come in 24 hours, but over the next weeks and months more pieces would be sent in with people hoping to squeeze in (email submissions would gain more and more question marks as time went on).
Outside of writing, Twitter and the internet more generally, life was filling up. My young daughter spent more time awake than asleep now and between work and life things, my time "online" had changed from reading poems on websites to doomscrolling through social media being force-fed "content" on how to be a better Dad at 1am. Rather than the usual four week turn around, this magazine has been slowly put together over ten months, which doesn't feel great, but I'm happy that it's now another December and I'm sharing some amazing writing again.
Now it's Christmas-eve-eve and I'm writing this little note from the table at my Mum's kitchen. Everyone else is asleep and tomorrow I will show my daughter a small red velvet bag which has been filled overnight by some fairies with a gift for her. I'll see my brother and sister and enjoy a day with my daughter and wife without having to worry about doing anything else. I'll probably tweet a link to this magazine in-between all of this while waiting for the kettle to whistle or while sat on the toilet.
I hope that between the chaos of the holidays and visiting family, this magazine is a collection of writing which gives you a calm space away from targeted adverts and curated "content". A collection of 29 pieces of art from my good friends.
Again, I have kept the tradition of the lucky dip to encourage readers explore new writers. Up in the corner, you’ll see the button, which will take you to a random page of the magazine. If you want, feel free to click here and dive straight in.
I say this each year, but the biggest thing you could do for all the writers here is to simply read the writing of the others and if something resonates for you, find a way to share the writing with the world. Email someone what you liked about their work, or send the magazine to a friend. Find a way to champion the art that you love, here and in everything. Neutral Spaces is pretty quiet now, but for the past six years it's been something which anchors me to some amazing writing and has made me some life long friends.
Thank you for being here and I hope you love this collection of writing. For the first time, we have some music to accompany the magazine thanks to David Byron Queen. There's an embed link below and I recommend that you allow it to play while you enjoy the magazine. You should also click through and check out the Uncanny Valet bandcamp.
With all my love,
Giacomo
Thank you to everyone who has become part of Neutral Spaces over the past three years. The love and care you all pour into your work is what makes Neutral Spaces such a diverse and beautiful website.