Recently I have had ideas of becoming a book editor. I have visions of working for some big publishing house such as Doubleday, Random House, or MacMillan, or even OU press or UT press. I have no idea how to get into the business however -- do I need a Master's degree or do I just need to make more contacts with people in the business in hopes that I might get my foot in the door. I love books; I love being around books and smelling the books and wondering where the books have been and who all has owned them -- especially if they happen to be very old books. Just the other day, while contemplating whether or not I really wanted to stay in Ethnic American Literature (do I really need this class? and WHAT am I going to do with yet another literature class...not that I don't see the value in these classes), but what good is Ethnic American Literature out in the real work world, unless I am going to teach...and I am not planning to be a teacher. Well anyway, I happened to be in Dr. Rice's Capstone class and he said if anyone was interested in book editing that Dr. Lewis had a class going on called Publishing the Literary Journal. WOW I thought. Maybe this would be perfect for me!? In the very least, the class would tell me whether or not I would like the world of editing and publishing or not. Well, to make a somewhat long and boring blog posting come to a welcomed point, I checked on the class, talked with Dr. Lewis, and am now enrolled in Publishing the Literary Journal (The New Plains Review). I am excited and a little bit apprehensive since I don't know what to expect out of the class and the practicum, but I have high hopes that this one class will lead me down a path to eventual success once I graduate in May. Wish me luck!!!

Sylvia Hamlton