For me, choosing the stories and poems for the first issue of Emerald Tales has been like picking a few flowers from a huge bouquet. There are roses and tulips and daffodils; chrysanthmums and daisies and baby's breath; there's foliage; but, there are NO weeds. For this issue, I decided on all tulips, that doesn't mean the roses, daffodils, and all the other flowers are ugly or damaged. It doesn't make them weeds. They are still beautiful flowers, but this time I was looking for tulips. Next time, I may be looking for daisies. Other publishers are looking for orchids, roses, or wildflowers.
I expect at some point in the future I will get a few weeds in my bouquet of submission flowers. They will not be seeing this from me in their response letter: "I would really like to see more from you for future issues." *wink*
