San Diego Writers, ink. Internship

Day 1: During the first day of internship it was short only lasting from 12 PM-3PM, since we were just getting adjusted and introduced. I went into the internship and met with my mentor and I was given a rundown on the kinds of things I will be doing, and what we will be working on. They tasked me with reviewing their website and seeing what things on their grabbed my interest or what I took a liking too. Then we ended the day after talking a bit more about tomorrows work.

Day 2: The second day of work lasted from 9 AM - 3 PM and I went into work and was briefed on the things to work on. The first work I was told to do was just to create an intro about me for them to add to their website along with their other interns .The then assigned me with reviewing and filling out forms for anthology submissions, and to look around liberty for interesting places to recommended to those who visit the gallery. After working on the anthologies for awhile I went ahead and started looking around the place for places to look into and found 3 which were the San Diego Water Color Society, Liberty Public Market and Carruth Cellars. After writing a brief first draft I continued to work on the Anthology submissions and ended the day at 2:30 PM. 

Day 3: The third day I worked from home since Fridays and Tuesday I do not go in, but I have to email my mentor when I start working and when I stop. The third day I was just assigned with continuing to work on the Anthology submissions and creating my first draft for places in liberty that I had went and seen in person before. The time I started and stopped working was from 11:30 AM - 7:25 PM. I continued with working on my Anthology assignments only getting through a small amount and took a break to go pick up my sister from school. Then when I got home I worked on my draft for the places in Liberty to visit, which was due at the end of my work time and wrapped it up around 7 PM and shared my work and emailed my mentor that I stopped working and what work I have finished and done.

Day 4: Monday I went into work at 9:00 AM and we had a small little talk about the plans for the day, we had helped clean up the work/art area by sweeping, wiping down surfaces, cleaning the glass doors, etc. After finishing the next piece of work I continued to do that day was working on my Liberty Station Blog and Anthology pieces. I had gotten through as much of my Blog and Anthology submissions as possible and left at 2:30 PM.

Day 5: Tuesday was a work from home day, so i stayed home and I started working at 11:30 AM. The entire day I continued to work on my Anthology submissions and my Liberty Station Blog. I had gotten through more than half of my story and poem submissions and continued to research and revise my Blog. Then I stopped working at 7:30 PM.

Day 6: Wednesday I went into work at 9:30 AM and worked for awhile on the Blog after receiving critiques from my mentor Kristen. Then I had left the work place early for a family matter, but I continued to work on my Blog from home. Then I also took a small bit of time to work on the poems from the Anthology submissions, I stopped working around 6:30 PM.

Day 7: Thursday I went into work at 9:00 Am and I had continued my blog finishing up the last touches, and then I left to go snap some photos of the places I needed like the San Diego Water Color society. Then after I finished I got food and came back to work, and continued to work on the Anthology submissions stories since they were the last ones I had left. I didn't finish them all but I got close, and I did manage to finish up the poems. Then I left work at 3:00 PM.  

Day 8: Friday was another work from home day, I had started work at 10:00 AM by joining a zoom meeting to make some announcements for San Diego Writers, Ink. I had made announcements for their memoir certificate program, novel writing certificate and SDWI membership. I left the meeting a bit early and worked on the Anthology submissions only for a short while. I then attended another meeting at 12:00 PM which I took notes for, just jotting down the information they were saying. The meeting then ended around 1:00 PM and I continued to work the submissions and closing in on finishing the stories. Then I also looked for photos online of the other places in Liberty for my Blog and finished them all up. Then I stopped working at 5:10.

Prompt #1: What is the biggest challenge you face at your internship? 

The biggest challenge I have faced during internship is managing my day. While I am attending my internship on time and getting the hours I need, I am just struggling with off work hours and working from home hours. Sometimes while I am at home and working I just find myself unable to work because I am either leaving my house for some other unplanned event that wasn't known to me. So I need to learn to try managing things for my days during the week better.

Prompt #2: How has or do you see your internship changing the way you consider that paths your future will take? 

This internship is helping me lean more towards a writing career as a future. I have always been unsure of what career I would want to take on, writing has always felt like a good option for me and at SDWI it has helped me feel more comfortable and think of writing as a future way more than before. Though I am still thinking about it literature is something I am now more comfortable working in.

Story

The final project I have decided on doing is writing a story, now I know this may seem basic but let me explain. At SDWI I will be writing a story for the remainder of my internship during my free time, the kind of story it will be I already have a rough idea for. While I am working on my story my mentor Kristen will critique and read through my work and make suggestions. Though I do not plan on finishing the story my goal is to at least get close to half way through or a fair ways past the epilogue. The reason I chose this as my final project is because I had already been thinking about this as an option but after asking Kristen about what previous interns did, some did the same as what I was thinking. Kristen said she was alright with me doing that as well if I liked so I decided to do it, this will help me work on my creative writing skills and get more into the headspace of a writer. 

Day 9: On Tuesday I started working at 10:30 AM, I had worked from home that day. I was told to work on a Zoom Schedule for them and organized the classes they had this year and the times they would be at. The second thing I worked on that day was revising interview questions to send out to the interviewees, then after I finished the revisions I had continued to work a bit more on the Zoom Schedule and then stopped working at 8:00 PM.

Day 10: On Wednesday I went into work at 9:15 AM, I had worked on a little bit of the Zoom Schedule before attending a meeting at 10:00 AM. The meeting at 10:00 AM was a tenant meeting and I had to take notes on what they were all discussing and things they said. The meeting ended at 11:00 AM. After that had ended I continued to work on the Schedule a bit more, and then my mentor Kristen arrived and we had gone over the weeks agenda. I had also worked on my story for my final project a bit before I she had arrived. The mentor interview had to pushed forwards to that day so I crafted my questions and we had the interview. It lasted for about 35 minutes I believe. I then went and got food, returned and then went home at 3:00 PM. 

Day 11: On Thursday I went into work at 9:00 AM. When I got there I finished up the Zoom Schedule around 11:00 AM or so and then worked a bit on my story before leaving to get some lunch. Then after that I had gone back to my work place and attended another small meeting which was talking about how to publish a book and the best methods for it. Then after that meeting had concluded I had left and stopped working at 3:00 PM.

Day 12: On Friday I was given new work to do, I was told to help with more anthology submissions and work on their Event Marketing calendar. I also worked from home this day and started around 11:14 AM. So I had begun to work on the Event Marketing, but since I had missed the Zoom meeting me on how to do it I had to watch the training videos they provided. Once I had done that I went ahead and worked on the Event Marketing and finished it. Then after that I had started to read through some anthology submissions but only got through a few before I stopped working at 8:11 PM.

Prompt #1: What are you thankful for in your internship experience? 

I am thankful for how great the work schedule is. They aren't specifically so set or strict on your time schedule when working outside of the work place, as long as you notify them about when you start working, when you stop working and inform them of breaks and things like that. I am also thankful for how kind the staff is they are very welcoming and are very nice to speak with, they have been kind to me during meetings and work and have made me feel welcomed.

Prompt #2:  Do you have any regrets so far?  What would you do differently if you could start internship over? 

There aren't any regrets I can think of, I think the closest thing is maybe starting my Final project at a bit of a late time in my opinion. If I could start internship over I think what I would do differently is plan out my Final project a bit more ahead so I could have had more time to write it and my mentor could have had more time to give her opinions and advice on it.

Day 13: On Monday I went into my internship around 9:00 AM and when I got there I had been asked to tidy up a bit. So I cleaned up by sweeping the floor and wiping surfaces. After that I helped my mentor take down some things from her car that were needed for an event in the room later that day, I also organized other items in the room. Once I had finished that I went on worked on the anthology submissions I had been assigned and got through a few of the poems, then I left at 3:00 PM.

Day 14: On Tuesday I had started working at 9:00 AM from home. I just continued working on the anthology submissions I had been assigned. I had gotten through about a quarter of the poems I was assigned to review. I did take a break for about 2-3 hours since I had needed to help my mom out with some things. Then after I was done helping I continued working and stopped at 7:00 PM.

Day 15: On Wednesday I went into Internship at 9:00 AM. When I got there my mentor assigned me some tasks to do before leaving to a meeting. I was told to do blurbs for the classes and meetings I attended, and I worked on fixing a transcript for an interview I had done. After finishing those I worked on the anthology submissions before I left at 1:00 PM since it was the only time I could get picked up, my mentor said it was fine for me to work at home the rest of the day so I continued working till 7:00 PM but I did not work the whole time I had a break for lunch for about 4 hours.

Day 16: On Thursday I worked from home because I wasn't feeling too well but I had started working at 12:00 PM. I worked on some anthology submissions and got through more than half of the poems. Though since I wasn't feeling very well that day I had taken a 2 hour break. After doing some of the anthology submissions I had stopped working at 9:00 PM.

Day 17: On Friday I worked from home again as well and I started working around 10:00 AM. The whole day I spent working on the anthology submissions again and a bit of my final project, I managed to finish the poem section for the submissions. I also did a little bit more for my final project. I then stopped working at 8:30 PM.

Prompt #1: What is going well with your project? What challenges are you facing? 

My project is going okay for the most part I just need to write a bit more and share my story with my mentor so I can have some feedback on it. The biggest challenge I am facing with writing my story for my final project is having the time for it, although I am not busy most of the time I usually spend that time to unwind a bit but then after that I am usually busy with other things. So time management is an issue.

Prompt #2: What lessons or experiences at your internship will you bring back to school to help you to further improve in your academics? 

The experiences I will be bringing back with me to school to help improve my academics is my writing skills. Over the course of this internship I have noticed my writing improve for certain things. I have gotten better at taking notes which is something that will come in hand during class, I have learned on how to build on questions more and make them not too short but yet still answer the original question. After my final project I believe my creative writing skills will improve as well which will help me for any future writing assignments or projects for school.

Day 18: On Monday I worked from home because I didn't have a ride to get to my internship that day. I started working around 9:00 AM and I worked on the suggestions given to me on my story and worked a little bit on anthology submissions. I took some breaks and continued until 4:00 PM.

Day 19: Tuesday I stayed home and worked again, I started around 10:00 AM. I worked my story some more and then also continued to work on anthology submissions. This day I had taken a long break since I had to help out with somethings, so I continued the submissions until 7:00 PM which is when I stopped working.

Day 20: On Wednesday I went into work at 9:00 AM and I continued to work on my Story and some of the anthology submissions, I left a little early at 1:00 PM but I continued to work at home on the submissions. I stopped working around 7:00 since I didn't get home until a bit later.

Day 21: On Thursday I also stayed home and worked because i didn't have a ride again, I started working around 9:00 AM. I spent the day working on the rest of the anthology submissions and working on the transcript for an interview that I had done. I stopped working at 6:00 so I could work on my POL.

Prompt #1: Describe your reflections on your internship project—what went well, what would you do differently, and what stands out to you?  

I think the work i had done went smoothly, I feel like i was able to help out very well and didn't fall behind on whatever it was I was needed to do. Things I would do differently is probably just plan out or think more about what my final project should be rather than be figure it out at a not so good time. Things that stand out to me are how differently my skills were before internship compared to now, I can tell that I have grown from my experience.

Prompt #2:​  What advice would you pass on to future interns? What are the most important skills for a student to be successful at his/her internship? How could another student develop these skills prior to beginning an internship? 

The advice i would give is shoot your shot when looking for an internship don't be afraid to ask about it, and ask others you know about internships especially if they know a place you would like to intern at and see if they could put in a word for you. Skills I say are important is communication, flexibility and being adaptable. I would say to develop this skills prior is just get better at communicating with others, whether it your teachers about school work or your friends just make sure your good at talking and letting them know about things. For flexibility and being adaptable I would say try and go with the flow of somethings and just be ready for the unexpected, thats all you can really do.