It's often this editing process that makes all the difference between a good piece of work and a great one. The thirty pieces or shortlisted work that made it into the anthology, really came down to the elements of good writing working: powerful imagery, strong rhythms, original concepts, and something hard to pin down - a kind of beauty combined with honesty that kept us thinking about the work. These pieces were generally the more ambitious stories and poems that tried to tackle something that can't be said easily, which is why it's such good fodder for creative writing.