Sincerely an Intern

As promised, I'm going to fill you in on life as an intern. Before summer started, I was searching for internships right and left. In order to make it in publishing, an internship is a valuable asset to have under your belt. During winter semester, I actually got a chance with Deseret Book because I was asked to come for an editing test and then a follow-up interview. Since it was so competitive, I didn't make it, unfortunately. However, I can now brag that I've completed two internships related to editing and I have one more underway. Allow me to elucidate on all three.....

TRANSCRIPTION WORK FOR BYU PROFESSOR
I got an internship with Professor Don Norton, a BYU editing professor. His project was to document interviews that centered on veterans from World War II and other wars. He would record an interview and put it on an audio file, which he would send to the interns. What I, one of the interns, would do was transcribe the tape and later go through and edit the transcription so it was coherent and error-free. It was a really rewarding experience and the tapes were often really interesting to listen to. My professor actually required me to read a finished transcription of Elder Maxwell and his experience overseas in a war. For the content I covered, I transcribed and edited a few stories on a Major League baseball player who served in WWII, a vet who was a POW in the Philippines, and LDS mission presidents who served in Vietnam during the war. Transcribing was really tedious and plowing through these manuscripts could be frustrating, but it was a truly valuable experience to see the finished products.

SEO EDITOR
As mentioned in my last blog, I've worked a lot with search engine optimization. I actually got an internship with this start-up company in Orem called I.M. Alchemy. I would go to the location ten hours every week and edit the content for their sites. I have to say, it was pretty amusing reading content from the outsource team. These were writers in Africa and South America whose first language was not English. So they would write topics that mostly had to do with how to kill bugs. I'd like to share with you an excerpt that I had to edit. Here's the original writing:

One of the weird things I heard about is making bats as pets to make them predators of these insects. Stink bugs hide most of the time in the attic. Some people think that if there were bats in the attic, stink bugs would be eventually eliminated since bats eat them. But I doubt it. And I wouldn’t want any bat inside my house even in the attic. Unless Batman is there to rescue me from stink bugs, bats are most welcome.

One way on how to kill stink bugs is to pick them one by one from any place you would see them. But be careful not crush them though or else you will smell a very terrible odor that these insects release once smashed flat. The weird thing though is some people flush them out in the toilet bowl. Isn’t it creepy when something crawls on you while on top of the toilet bowl? It might be the stink bug you flush out.

I'm not gonna lie, these were pretty difficult to edit. (They made no sense!) But I gained a lot of valuable experience with learning the inner workings of SEO, and I got to practice my editing skills a ton. I also got to write a few articles. For instance, if you plug in "glue in hair extensions" in Google, my article is the first to pop up. Here's a link if you want to read about hair extensions. (Yes, I know you totally want to.):

http://glueinhairextensions.org/

COPYEDITOR/PROOFREADER
I've saved the best for last. This is the one I'm currently working on. Starting around June, I've been doing work for Jolly Fish Press, a local publishing company. Guess what I get to do? I edit real life novels for publication! I've always been drawn to fiction, so this is a dream come true. The company's only been around for a year, so most people haven't heard of it. (I promise it's not a scam!) I have to complete copyediting and proofreading for three novels before I've completed it. I've got one down, so two to go. Copyediting means checking a manuscript for grammar, punctuation, and other errors. Proofreading is examining the layout to make sure everything follows the appropriate format as designated by the company's style guide. I've done both types of editing for one book that's been published. If you want to see the book trailer, follow the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvbOlJvArsU

Well, that sums it up. I'm getting/received tons of valuable experience. I guess the next thing that's lined up is a full-time job, once I find one in the (hopefully) near future. Until then!

Sincerely,

Sabra