First Things First

Blogging. Web + Log = Blog. This concept was once completely unknown to me until I broke out into the post-graduate real-world. The Writer's Market Manual from college, (dated 2006), did not include any information of the need for writers to blog. For any lover of English or any language for that matter, the very word blog either induces giggling or cringing. English students come out believing in old fashioned portfolios and they take two steps back when asked incredulously: "You don't have a blog?!"

Having recently begun my career as an Associate Editor, I have found a great many striking things besides the concept of blogs that were not covered in my academic career. I hope to cover any number of those things here in Red Ink Notes and to bridge the old fashioned academic techniques to the world we live in today - the world of technology and communication.

The name of this blog, Red Ink Notes, came after much musing. Titles such as "Stumped Me," "What do you do with a degree in English?" and the bland "Former English Student's Blog" were passed around. Then I pulled out all of my old writing from college and saw the drafts. The ugly, messy drafts, littered with red ink. It occurred to me that after all that time as a student and that shameful red pen, how poignant that now I wield a red pen - although in the real world, it is not so much a red pen as a keyboard and mouse.

In Red Ink Notes, I will resurrect past writing from the dusty portfolio and of course write new observations. Ranging from literature, film, environmental issues, society and much more, Red Ink Notes will be a communication of diverse ruminations to provide information and inspiration.

Thank you and I'll see you soon.

Catherine

"Diversity makes great minds." Julie Ann Lintereur