New to Interning

My first week of interning has been exciting. I won't lie, I started out being a little nervous. I was nervous that my supervisor would regret choosing me because he wouldn't like my work. I was nervous that I would have no idea what I was doing. I was nervous that I would be exposed as a fraud! Until I reminded myself that I'm not a fraud. I really am a writer. And above all else, I truly am capable. So I went forward, and convinced myself that I'm a pro. So far it's working out pretty well.

On my first day of real interning work, my supervisor seemed pleased with the short "articles" I wrote (only 300 words or so per article) on different attractions to visit in various states. That is what a lot of my work will consist of--writing short blurbs like that, on things to do and see if planning a trip in the States or Canada.

I can see that getting a bit tedious and/or frustrating, but I'm excited for the learning opportunity. I've never written articles of any kind nor have I done any professional editing, so it should prove to be interesting.

Like I said, I was nervous that Matt (my supervisor) wouldn't like my work, or that I just wouldn't be up to par. But he continues telling me that I'm doing well and so far he hasn't made any drastic changes or suggestions to the work I've done. Which of course makes me INCREDIBLY happy. It feels so great to have an unbiased professional tell you you're pretty good at the one thing you love so much.

I've had to continuously tell myself that I AM capable, and that I don't need to get all worried about failing. Previous experience has taught me that if you always tell yourself you suck at something, you'll always suck at it. Because that's what you will expect of yourself. So with this experience I'm telling myself that I know what I'm doing and that I'll be successful.

Having never written any kind of article before, this week has definitely taught me about a new writing style. My first day consisted of sitting in a chair for 2 hours and reading through previous issues of the main magazine published by Serendipity. I wasn't really enjoying myself when reading them because it just felt like I was wasting time. Then I started to get tired, so I made notes about the trends I noticed in the writing (to keep myself awake). I noted the tone, content, and little style nuances.

I'm glad I went ahead and did that because my next day at the site, Matt came in later than I did and he had information on three attractions sitting on my desk and wanted me to write the blurbs for them. Since I had thoroughly read through those previous issues and taken some notes, I actually had an idea of where to go with the information I was given. Whew!

Next week I should be getting into some other material, so we'll see how that pans out.