Blog 1: Who am I and Why am I Here?

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Toria Clarke (Toria being a nickname for Victoria), and I'm currently a junior at Florida State University. As a part of my Writing and Editing in Print and Online class, we are required to have a blog where we post about class discussion or things involving the class and keeping a certain career path in mind, all while aiming to reach a certain audience. First, let me say that I'm not really sure who will take the time to read this, but if you find yourself reading my blog posts, thank you.

As far as a career path goes, well, I'm still kind of figuring that out. I would like to think I'll end up in a big city somewhere, writing or editing for a fun lifestyle magazine; but I also might end up working for a publishing company like Random House or Penguin and I'll fall in love with that realm of the workforce. 

I think the great part about not knowing what exactly it is that I want to do is the fact that I can take the time to figure it out. Every move I make is a reflection of my character, and I think that's something beautiful. In a sense, that's kind of how language and writing works. Written word was thought of by a human brain--a human brain that contains knowledge and opinions on so many different concepts and ideas. In her article, "Writing is a Knowledge-Making Activity," Heidi Estrem states, "writers of all kinds-from self identified writers to bloggers to workplace teams to academic researchers-have had the experience of coming upon new ideas as a result of writing." I think that what Heidi is saying here is that writing, whether it's the act of composing or the physical written word itself, invokes thought in everyone. 

I like to use this thought and apply it to different situations in my life. For example, if I were to read a journal article about an executive decision made by Donald Trump, I would be curious as to why he made that decision and ask the question: how does this affect me? I think that asking questions that are, in a sense, self absorbed is kind of important when it comes to the writing/editing/publishing field. When I'm given a piece to edit, I ask the question: how can this writing become better? What would make it more interesting to me? Answering these questions through editing a piece can help progress the piece in monumental ways. 

So, for now, I'll say that language and writing is a vital part of every day life. It invokes ideas that we may not have even dreamt of thinking about. It can be controversial, forcing us to choose a side on a difficult matter. It can be beautiful and heart-breaking and pull emotion out of our otherwise emotionless hearts. Writing is a powerful thing, and involving myself in it is what I want to do in life.