• Facebook
• Instagram

Letter from the Editor

Vallie Lynn Watson

__________

My first real “paycheck” job was at the Montgomery Mall—Lynn’s Hallmark, to be specific. (It was great fun, at age sixteen, to sport a nametag that read LYNN’S HALLMARK—LYNN.) That mall has since closed, and I have worked many jobs since then: teaching, retail, teaching, restaurant work, teaching, teaching, teaching…

I wondered what narrative I would write if I were to come across a call for Workplace Wounds and Woes stories. I have been so fortunate, job-wise, and never more so than here at McNeese State University, teaching fiction in our MFA program. Before I moved to Louisiana last year, I spent a decade doing the adjunct grind in Wilmington, NC. Despite all the pitfalls of being an adjunct (no benefits, no job security), I probably had one of the best adjunct experiences in the history of UNCW— getting to teach across multiple disciplines, chairing graduate theses, and so on— while living nine miles from the beach. I will appreciate that decade for the rest of my life.

Job security is a lovely thing, however, and I’m equally appreciative for this marvelous opportunity at McNeese. I’ve gotten to do so many cool things in my short time here, including taking over Boudin. When I decided to turn the magazine into a monthly, I was a little nervous about the workload; this coincided with the final semester of longtime managing editor, Abbie Skinner, and she was deep into thesis writing and comprehensive exams.

That’s when first-year fiction student Karris Rae quietly stepped in behind the scenes. She got us organized, learned and then helped teach me and our undergraduate interns how to build an issue in WordPress, created an SOP manual, and spent countless hours and weekends constructing and proofreading our monthly issues. This was all on top of her classwork, writing, teaching, publishing, getting accepted to conferences, a two-hour daily commute, and, oh yeah, getting married! I will never be able to adequately thank Karris for the extra work she took on, but naming her this year’s Boudin managing editor is a very small start. 

Karris’s first issue as managing editor is as equally impressive as all of her work—she’s assembled a focused collection of impressive writing. I can’t wait to see what brilliance she’ll conjure this year ahead. What I do know is this: it is a privilege to work with such devoted writers at McNeese, both in the MFA program and at the undergraduate level (check out the fun my Intro to Fiction students are up to!). Much thanks to them all!

__________

Next 🢡

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.