I’d be lying if I didn’t admit something felt a little bit special about the latest edition of Austin Living magazine.

That’s partially because the July/August issue, which is available now, includes the debut edition of Austin Expression.

As you may have read in past columns, the Herald and Austin Living asked our readers to submit art, poems, short stories and other creative submissions for this lit mag-like portion of the magazine.

Being the first time we’ve accepted these submissions for such a section, the idea came with a bit of hesitation, but we had an abundance of submissions, and the staff had a blast going through them and getting them in this edition.

Several great pieces are featured in the magazine: poetry by Amanda McKnight, Vicky King and Darrell Larson; fiction by Grace Heimsness; paintings/mixed media by Ashley Barber, Sally Gerhart and James Wegner; and photographs by Barb Houle, Matt Freechack and Aubrey Ferris — just to name a few of those who submitted. Kory Engelstad even submitted pictures of his intricate origami creations.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to include work from each person who submitted, many due to space restrictions. However, we thank everyone who submitted to inaugural Austin Expression.

Everyone who submitted and those who didn’t will have another chance to be published. Austin Expression is becoming an annual fixture of the July/August issue. Artists, writers, photographers, songwriters and other creative-minded people with an Austin tie can begin eying their submissions now for next year.

We urge everyone to submit again next year.

As with anything new, we learned a few things during this process and may do things a bit differently next year. For example, the submission period for the second edition of Austin Expression may close a bit earlier next spring.

So sharpen your pens, cue the laptops, tune your instruments, and mix the paints to be ready for year two of Austin Expression.

The July/August issue of Austin Living is available at the Herald, 310 Second Street Northeast.