So after much debating I decided to just write about what I know this summer, and what I know about right now is being an intern. I have an unpaid internship with the State Historical Society of Iowa this summer working in the archives and this was my first week. I applied for a few different paid internships but none of them were quite the right fit for me, and with the economy it's harder than ever for us liberal arts kids to find paying internships. Since I'm not getting paid I'm working ten hours a week right now, on two different days. Even though I'm not getting paid I still think I'm getting valuable experience, in addition to building contacts and references.
My first day on the job I was given four boxes and after hearing a little background information on the collection they told me to set out. Set out?!?! I had no idea what I was doing! I still don't! So right now I'm basically sifting through a collection of personal papers and making a list of what the collection contains. I got pretty bored with that after four hours on Tuesday, but today I came across something really interesting. About ten years ago in Iowa there was a real push to get an inmate out of the women's prison in my hometown of Mitchellville, Iowa. I became extremely engrossed in old newspaper articles about her as well as letters vying for or against her release. I tried to find something about it on the Internet when I got home today, but so far I haven't found any luck. It was a nice way to spend a half hour today though; it felt like getting lost in a really good book.
A little later I got set up on the computer network and got to start indexing death certificates from 1924. This sounds morbid and it is, but it's also extremely interesting. In the fifty or so certificates I indexed today I found that most of the people who dyed were one-year-old or younger, or over the age of seventy. It seems like if you could just get past that one year you would live a very long life. There were unfortunately quite a few suicides in the batch I went through, mostly retired farmers and the things they would kill themselves with were just... ugh. Carbolic acid was a favorite. The most challenging part of indexing the death certificates is trying to read the doctor's handwriting! Every once in awhile you'll come across one that is typed and that is the best part of the day.
Have any of you worked in or with an archive? What was your first internship?
Today I have an interview with up and coming author Alexandra Bracken. Her novel, Brightly Woven, debuts March 23. The short description of the novel from her website is, "Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him." I haven't read her novel yet, though I plan to, so many of you might be wondering why I chose to interview her. Bracken is unique in that she was working on publishing her novel while she was still in college. She signed with an agent on her 21st birthday and after spending her senior year revising the novel her dream is finally coming true next week. How did she do it you might ask, and I think the work diligence pretty much sums up Bracken's story. I won't just leave it at that though, as follows you can read her answers to my questions about how she balanced school and writing and what path (or paths) she took to get there.
Where did you go to school, when did you graduate, and what did you go? I went to the College of William and Mary, graduated last Spring, and majored in History and English
Did you start as an English major? What made you decide to become an English major? When I was applying for schools, I focused on the Virginia area, mostly because I knew I wanted to study Early American History and I would freeze my butt off if I went to school in New England. I had always loved English, but my dad had convinced me to major in History and Government because he wanted me to be a lawyer. BIG mistake. I took one Government class and realized how stupid it was for me NOT to major in English--AKA the subject I really loved.
What were your plans for after graduation? How have those plans been fulfilled or how have they been different than you expected? Originally, I was going the pre-law route (I'm sure you've all noticed that when you say you're an English major, most people assume that you want to be A) a lawyer or B) a teacher)... but I realized, in the middle of taking the LSAT unfortunately, that being a lawyer would make me MISERABLE, and spent all of the summer between Junior and Senior year moping around without a life plan. My next idea was to work in PR/Communications (which I definitely recommend), but I ended up getting a scholarship to attend the Columbia Publishing Institute and decided to take it. I now work as an editorial assistant in children's publishing. Looking back, it seems like a natural choice since being an author had given me a lot of insight into the business.I'm not sure if it's what I want to be doing forever, but I'm happy to be employed and doing something I enjoy!
What made you decide to take on writing a novel while in college? I first tried my hand at writing a novel my freshman year--I always say that NaNoWriMo made me very brave, and it's true. I thought I would just give it a go, and ended up getting hooked on the process.
Were you planning to publish this all along? No... I tried to be very realistic about it and not get my hopes up, but secretly I was hoping I'd be able to sell something before I graduated.
How did you balance school and writing? I get asked this all the time, and I'm still not sure what the right answer is. I was very disciplined and made a lot of social sacrifices on the weekends. You really do have to find a schedule that works, though. The first three years of college were incredibly reading and writing intensive (I was once assigned 2000 pages of reading a week in my Sophomore year. Not. Fun.), but that helped me write. Knowing that I only had an hour here or two hours there meant that I used that little time for writing and writing alone. When i was working on revisions with my agent, I gave myself a deadline to finish the first round before finals that May. Starting in March, I woke up at 6 AM every day and wrote until I had class at 1 PM, and when I was done with homework at night, I'd be back to revising. I tried getting up at 5 AM and squeezing in an hour of work out time, but... uh... I quickly decided an extra hour of sleep was more important than getting my fitness on.
What advice would you give college students who want to write seriously in college? What advice would you give those who want to publish? What steps should they take? The advice that I always give to high schoolers and college students that ask me this question is this: While you're in school, focus on being a writer before you focus on being a published author. I really miss the days I had before I was published, when I could write whatever I wanted regardless of how crappy it was and I didn't have to worry about another person's judgment. I can't reinforce this enough, being published in college is like having a full-time job, and one that isn't always fun. It's an incredible amount of stress and pressure to put on yourself, when you're already anxious about exams/papers/what-have-you. Not everyone will have a negative experience, but I would also add that a good portion of my friends thought that I had graduated a semester early because I was so deep in my revision hole that I only surfaced for food and class. School is such a unique and wonderful time, but you don't get to experience it when you're by yourself writing. There are a zillion and a half elements in Brightly Woven that I picked up from the classes I was taking at the time. Be a sponge and absorb as much as possible from your classes and friends. Make sure you're taking advantage of all that college life has to offer, and if you happen to write something that you feel is ready to be seen by the world, go for it! Revise it seriously, submit it to agents, and learn from the feedback you get. Make sure that when you're writing you are happy and excited, because the minute you start feeling stressed out or depressed, it often means that your life has become unbalanced, and you need to step away and refocus.
What advice would you give to English majors about how to make the English major work for them after school? Okay guys, here's a secret: what matters in the job world isn't necessarily what you majored in, but the internships and work experiences that you have. My current boss didn't hire me because I was an English major (though I'm sure that helped)--she claimed it was because I talked about coordinating our Student Assembly's Thanksgiving airport shuttle rides. So don't discount any work experience you have, regardless of how small or insignificant you think it is. I would also recommend networking with alums in the career field of your choice, and seeking out speciality programs like the Columbia Publishing Course, which often feed you directly into jobs. Besides the fact that companies are always looking for good writers (seriously--critical writing does not tend to be a strength of most business majors), so be sure to always play that up. Plus, you've spent how many years analyzing and forming your own arguments, right? That's another skill you have in the bag.
Alexandra's novel, Brightly Woven, comes out March 23. You can read a longer synopsis if you follow the Brightly Woven link.
I've been a bit absent in the blogging world lately, but there are many reasons why. This past week has been nothing but rising and falling emotions, and just when I think everything has hit the lowest point possible something good happens to pull me out of my slump. It has truly been the weirdest week ever. It mostly has to do with internships, jobs, classes, and grades. I didn't get an internship I'd applied for but then I heard back about a great volunteer archiving opportunity for me this summer. Just when I figured out I could do that I couldn't find away to get home for the interview for this volunteer project. Then I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to figure that out, including getting rides and getting work off. And that's just what got the ball rolling- there have been many more since then.
This is weird for me though. For most of my life it has been my experience that the worst stuff always comes at once and there are only really little things that help pull you out of that slump. This week has not been like that. It has been like humongous things get ruined but then really, really awesome things replace it. This has been thinking (once again) that my mom was right (don't tell her!) when she said everything happens for a reason. I don't think I ever really bought into that until this week. It seems like it's true really. I haven't been getting things I thought I really wanted, but I have been getting unexpected things that are really better for me.
So what about you? Do you think everything happens for a reason? Have experienced these weird ups and downs and all arounds (in about a three day span?)
This is my last week as a teenager! I'm going to be 20 on Sunday. In case you are interested I am going to The Lion King for my birthday at the Des Moines Civic Center. I have never been to The Lion King before so I am very excited. I'm also going to celebrate my birthday by participating in Maw Books Blog's Bloggiesta, which runs from January 8-10. A Bloggiesta is basically just a chance to improve your blog. I worked a lot on my layout this past week, but I'm going to be using the bloggiesta time to make some post templates and work on a few other things for my blog. I'm going to try and work on my blog for a total of 24 hours over the weekend. My challenge to myself is to work on my blog for ten hours straight from Saturday to Sunday. You obviously won't see a lot of the work that I do on my blog, but I'll make a post at the end of the weekend to share what I've done.
This week I posted the books I got for Christmas and my plans for this blog in the coming year. I also posted reviews of The Clumsiest People in Europe, The Time Traveler's Wife, and A Great and Terrible Beauty. I also joined one more challenge: The Essay Reading Challenge.
I'm working on where I'm going to live next year and I will probably be signing a lease for my first apartment soon. Yesterday was a busy day for me because it was a day of making plans. I'm planning a couple of trips, applying for a couple of internships, and I'm looking into the first apartment situation. I'm most likely going to be living by myself, which won't be very different from how things are now. All of this apartment talk has got me thinking about decorating though! Decorating is probably my second passion after books. I spent this entire past summer thinking about how I was going to decorate my dorm room for this year, and anyone who has seen my dorm room will tell you that it is pretty sweet. I thought I would share a few things I found about decorating with books, a challenge for any avid reader. I found a link on Better Homes and Gardens about Decorating With Books. Some of the ideas aren't that practical, but they are pretty. I might use some of these ideas next year. I'm also lusting after At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries. It's a little expensive but I think it's something I would use for many, many years. Perhaps a birthday present to myself?
Happy reading!
I am in Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.
