WILL CONDENSE INTO MY OWN WORDS, INCLUDE PICTURES OF EACH EDITION OF SHALE, LINK TO DIGITAL COPIES OF THE CAT'S FIGMENT AND SHALE ON THE OLD SHALE WEBSITE.
ALSO NEED TO INCLUDE INFORMATION FROM SARAH'S AUDIO INTERVIEW. WHAT FOLLOWS IS STILL LOVELACE
These are still the words of Ashleigh Lovelace
The next year, I stayed on as EIC, partly because I did feel that the constant changeover of EICs prior contributed a bit to the fractured structure of the staff, and I felt that we had a decent amount of momentum under us with the major changes that we had made during the 2010-11 year. This next year, Sarah Hayden really stepped up as someone who wanted to be vitally involved with the management of the publication. She had come on staff as a freshman staff poetry editor the year before and had been nothing but a boon to the enthusiasm and momentum we needed that first year, and she really demonstrated a knack for management decisions.
So Sarah and I both agreed that what we needed this next year was a name change. We both agreed on Shale as a name, as it connected us fundamentally with the graduate publication, Limestone, which we both saw as a strategic move that could help cement our position as a truly homegrown and English department endorsed publication. Additionally, though Eric deserves major credit for everything he did, naming was not his strong suit, and we felt The Cat’s Figment’s name did nothing to legitimize us as a prestigious literary journal. Shale had a nice ring to it. It was simple and clean, and in pairing it with limestone as a fundamental part of Kentucky’s sedimentary record, we sought to connect it on a more ideological level. (Or so we hoped it was. Sarah and I never claimed to be specialists of Kentucky geology.)
The 2011-2012 publication year functioned in the same annual schedule, but by this point we had gained a few wonderfully talented and enthusiastic editors. We also gained quite a bit more money and institutional support thanks to Sarah’s close relationship with the Writing Center. Judith Prats really believed in what we were doing at that point and the WC was making a concerted effort to be involved in more of the campus life so our subsequent partnership with them as primary funding partner was absolutely instrumental in cementing Shale as a UK student publication of note. After our publication that spring, I handed the reigns over to Sarah, knowing that it had both an energetic visionary at the helm and a wonderful community of support at the university through the Writing Center.
How aware of the Creative Writing Corner was I?
Honestly, if it existed before Sarah Hayden got involved with The Cat’s Figment in 2011, I was not aware of it. I was, however, very aware of it once she got involved and was aware that it was not as strongly attended as they would have liked. I had no knowledge (to my memory) of Etch, though I could just be blocking that out entirely.
What have I gone on to do after TCF/Shale? How did these publications impact my undergrad life and future? What is the value of programs like these to me personally?
After I stepped down as EIC and handed everything over to Sarah, I still had one final (fifth) year of undergraduate left to get my majors in English, Arts Administration, and Art History. During that year I continued to intern at the University Press of Kentucky (which I had started in spring 2012) and took on a role as Editorial Assistant to English professor Marion Rust, who is the Reviews Editor of the journal Early American Literature, published by the University of North Carolina Press.
After I graduated in May 2013, I started a summer internship at Penguin Group (USA) that I had received through the International English Honors society, Sigma Tau Delta. I worked in Editorial for Penguin Classics and in Publicity for the Penguin Speakers Bureau. After my internship with Penguin, I took a position in Cambridge University Press’s Graduate Scheme in NYC (where I am today) which is essentially a management training program that allows me to rotate through all the major departments of Academic Books and Journals, after which I will settle in a permanent role in the organization in either Editorial, Production, Marketing, or Sales.
The Cat’s Figment/Shale was instrumental in discovering my career path in publishing. My experience there led me to the others (UPK and EAL) at the university and without it, I would have never realized that I truly thrive in the publishing model and that it is where I best fit.
I wholeheartedly believe that these opportunities are formative experiences for anyone who wants to be involved in campus life or who has a passion for creative projects. Taking on responsibilities like these in undergraduate is one of the best ways to figure out where your talents lie, and to be a part of something that you know you can help shape is a powerful tool for self-development. I was always (and still am on occasion) a writer, but had The Cat’s Figment not been started by Eric my freshman year, thus providing me a place to get involved in the writing community at UK, it might have taken me a lot longer to realize that the role of publisher is one that I truly believe I’m best suited for.
