Hello and thanks!
For a very long time, I’ve wanted to do something that not only helped women but brought them together as well. I’m an aspiring writer. I write stuff and send them to magazines; I’m also in the process of setting up an online women’s magazine with some friends that should go live this year. But because that particular magazine has more of a Christian direction to it, I wanted to start another project that would get women, regardless of faith, involved.
That’s when I thought of Red Ink.
The aim of this project is to get women writing! If you’re a woman and you have a story about your life that you want to share, feel free to send it in. The finished product will be an anthology that will go for sale. The first volume, entitled Rites of Passage; Rights of Womanhood deals with typical milestones that are deemed to be ‘rites of passages’. For women, there are many things expected of us that can either cause elation or suppression, whether it be cultural or religious or just something that’s expected of you as a woman in your personal circles. Rites… will be compiled of stories from women all over the world who want to share their tales about a particular ‘rite’ that affected them in their own lives. It will not only be therapeutic to write, but comforting for others who have gone through similar experiences and emotions.
Vol. 1:
The topics covered in Red Ink Vol. 1 will be based around so-called ‘rites of passages’ for women. These include getting married, getting into a relationship for the first time, puberty, having sex for the first time; childbirth, etc. However, sometimes ‘rites of passages’ for women can turn into a question of ‘rights of passage’. Some of your stories may not be happy tales–they don’t have to be. If you have something to share about a landmark of your life that has affected you as a woman in particular, please do so. You may find that sharing your experiences will benefit other women greatly.
But why ‘Red Ink‘?
Well, the colour red is significant in a woman’s life, isn’t it? Through blood: menstruation, childbirth, loss of virginity; sometimes abuse or gendicide; the red wedding clothes of a child bride… Through aesthetics: the rouge lipstick that the little girl finds in her mother’s dresser; the hot glare of the Red Light District; the ubiquitous red heart that the teenager longs for in her Valentine’s Day Box… Through emotion: the burning vitriol of hormones and hot sweats; the anger of injustice; the fire that brings women from all over the world together, to save a helpless girl in Delhi, or a victimized woman in Dublin.
We are writing in red. The project is covered in Red Ink.
—Ace, editor.
Red Ink 