Throughout this internship with the acclaimed Southeast Review, I have grown exponentially as an individual and developed many skills related to more than just editing, writing, and media. When I learned of the opportunity to intern with SER, I knew immediately that I wanted to apply. This is the second literary magazine I have worked with, but SER provided me with the opportunity to develop skills beyond the standard editorial ones involved with reading and reviewing submissions.

 

Going into the publishing industry requires extensive amounts of experience to set you apart from the thousands of other book fanatics also hoping to go into the industry. I have been working to build my professional portfolio since 2019, with every organization and role taken with the purpose of achieving a job in publishing. While I knew SER was going to be a strong addition to my experience, I was not expecting the significant professional development I would obtain in the process. Many of my soft skills were deepened in this internship including communication, collaboration, time management, critical thinking, creativity and many more. Additionally, with the career building workshops we had, I now know how to best showcase my experience in a professional and effective format. 

 

The editorial portion of this internship was what I was originally most excited to do, however it ended up being the smallest portion of my workload. I am genuinely grateful for this because I already have extensive experience reading and editing other people’s work. What I haven’t had the chance to do is organize, plan, and execute an event from the ground up. Planning the annual fall fundraiser required a lot of time and effort from all of the interns and I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish. I really enjoy project management, it was my favorite part of my roles as editor in chief of other publications. Figuring out all of the moving parts required to make a product come together just clicks with my brain. In the past, these have been physical products (specifically magazines issues and yearbooks), but planning this fundraiser was the first time the project was an event. 

 

I was part of the scheduling team which primarily entailed coordinating the timetable for the night and every individual event involved in said table. We had to make sure there were people running each portion – which included finding outside individuals for the portions us interns were unable to accomplish (like the artist and tarot reader). There were three people in this scheduling team which was the perfect amount in order to delegate and get everything done effectively. In the past, I have found that if there are too many people trying to do the same thing, nothing ends up getting done. However, my team and I were able to communicate our individual skills when assigning the tasks for ourselves, leading to a seamless execution of the event. 

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When planning the fundraiser, I was the main person in charge of creating the event schedule. This included what interns were in charge of specific areas and tasks, as well as accurately timing the activities that involved the entire space so we would be able to get through everything planned. It is this specific task that is most relevant to me and my future as this upcoming summer, I have an internship for government scheduling lined up. The major part of this internship will be creating schedules using Microsoft Project where I will have to make sure various elements are accounted for and properly planned into an easy to read and understand format. Knowing that I have already created a schedule for this SER Internship that worked seamlessly makes me confident that I will be able to fulfill my job duties this upcoming summer. 

 

While this may not be as black and white in terms of experience/knowledge gained, one aspect of this internship I found to be very valuable was the food for thoughts. Deepening my knowledge base of the professional side of publishing was crucial to my understanding of the industry as a whole. Getting to read multiple different perspectives from professionals working directly in publishing was eye-opening. It is safe to say that I built a picture in my mind of what working in publishing would mean, but getting to read actual day-to-day experiences of those working in publishing gave me a much clearer idea of what my future life may look like. It solidified opinions that I already had, but it also developed new ones on areas I never thought to consider before. I go much further in depth about these revelations in my individual food for thoughts, but overall, I found the information to be invaluable to my future endeavors in publishing. 

 

The last thing I want to mention was just how appreciative I am of our visit to Midtown Reader, a local bookstore in Tallahassee. While I do want to go into publishing, my dream is to one day open my own independent bookstore similar to Midtown Reader. I would love to run this future store in a very similar manner to that of Midtown, so I asked multiple questions to the store manager we spoke to on our visit. The entire time she was speaking, I could feel my excitement grow as it felt like something I could accomplish one day. After this visit, I felt as though I could genuinely open my own bookstore with the knowledge I gained making this dream feel obtainable for the first time, and not simply a pipedream. 

 

Overall, this internship has provided me with many skills that I will take with me when I enter the workforce, ones that are applicable to more than just editing, writing, and media. I am beyond grateful for my time with the Southeast Review and look forward to how it will shape my future careers!