My Web Portfolio

Ta-Da!!

Welcome to the Culmination of my Efforts as a Professional Writing and Editing Student!

(I was having some trouble loading it, but a friend with another computer said it worked fine, so I'm assuming it is my connection.)

Wrap Up

So my internship is officially over. It was fun, an interesting learning experience. I've made a lovely new contact person for future job opportunities and am glad to say that. Experience is so crucial (or so I'm told). I am thankful to everyone I met at the WVU Business Incubator for giving me the opportunity to work as a professional writer and for being there when I needed help with something. It was a very laid-back and stress-free environment, which was an awesome thing. I don't think I could have asked for a better interning experience.

Reflective Essay Brainstorm

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End of Week 9

I remember that the first thing I wanted to talk about was definitely the informal "meetings" we have sometimes. I will just be sitting here in my cubicle, and suddenly both Matt and Dusty are behind me. While I continue sitting, they both lean over and discuss a document that Dusty wants to talk about - the Locus markups, in this particular example, and we discuss the fact that somehow some of my edits did not make it to the copy that made it to his desk - and also that some of the edits I did make (and I have proof of them being saved and sent to the correct person) never made it to where they should have (there was a "fiscal year" report of sorts, where all the WVUBI tenants had their products displayed...I don't know...this is a perfect example of how you don't have to be absolutely sure what it is you are dealing with, to deal with it..but anyway, all the numbers were with the wrong companies as if the formatting had been messed up at some point. I went back and corrected everything, put it all in the right place, and sent it to the graphic design intern...and it was not fixed. I have the email I sent to her saved in my Sent box as well as the correct document saved in my files.) I think it's important to note here that you should always keep your work for future reference. I mean, not only did I need to keep everything for the end of the term web portfolio / presentation, but it's good to have stuff on hand in case a question comes up as to who's fault something is.

But I may have gotten a little off topic. I wanted to comment on how interesting I found it that Dusty came to me for a meeting, not the other way around. In a more formal setting, I'm sure the boss would want all meetings with him..maybe. Or maybe he just likes to walk around and get out of his office for a while. This is not a negative comment-but Dusty does tend to jump from one idea to the next fairly quickly, so it would make sense that he just walks here to talk about something that is on his mind. It was all very informal - not a formal meeting. I just thought it was interesting. I could have been asked to go to Matt's cubicle as well. Anyway...enough about that.

So last week, Matt and I had our field trip. I was so excited at the prospect of doing something outside the cubicle, and it did turn out to be very, very cool. My interviewing skills are obviously not what they "should" be (or perhaps they are, considering I am not a journalism major...) but I did get enough information to actually write the piece, so I consider that to be alright.

Going back to two paragraphs up, I kind of wish there weren't informal meetings here. They kind of take me by surprise, I am not expecting them, and therefore cannot prepare for what I need to be familiar with or remember...we hadn't spoken about Locus in a good three to four weeks prior to this meeting, so I had to be a little rusty when I spoke of what I knew - which is not professional.

Well, until next week...

reminder

(talk about 'informal' meetings)

End of Week 8

Kind of...I'm having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so I figured I would go ahead and post now, since I will be rather incapacitated when I would normally make my posting. This week has been CRAZY. There's a to-do list on my desk that's like a mile long...and I walked in this morning and had to spend an hour on something Jo needed help with, she's writing a grant for WVUBI to get some money from the stimulus package that's out right now. I had a couple articles to post yesterday that Matt wanted me to work on - I have a FIELD TRIP next week to go on that I am super excited about (even though I'll have to play more like a journalist..that's ok) and the huge project that Dusty wants me to work on that seems like a super massive thing to really get into this late in the game, but he said that he didn't expect to finish it before I left, so that's ok too. It's just a general framework for something they've never done here before (kind of like an annual report) so whatever I do will be a helpful guideline for whoever comes after me. I'm waiting on Matt to get back from lunch so I can ask him about this thing that I'm not really sure about - I vaguely remember him telling me about it yesterday, and I wrote a short note on it, but since I got like five assignments yesterday and this was something he told me just to do "whenever" I must have not listened as well as I should have. Something about Morgantown though...I've got the notes in front of me. But I don't remember how he wanted me to compile the information...it's on the website, the first version of it, and he just wanted me to update the website with more current statistics (since they haven't done it in about four years). Thursdays are always a little different than other days, because I stay longer than normal and I'm here while every one else has lunch - so if I have a question, I just have to wait and do something else until they get back. I hope I did what Jo wanted me to for that grant - it is two pages in like a questionaire format and she just wanted me to use information that they had previously put on another grant that had been written a while ago - she was working all the numbers and (I'm guessing) the bulk of the grant itself, and she just told me she wanted me to make it "flow" (she is always really hard on herself, saying she can't write and whatnot...I'm sure this is not the case and either way...I'm here! PWE Intern to the rescue!) haha...no, I felt pretty important though, because in part of the previously written grant, there was a section dedicated to what the WVUBI does for tenants, all the survices we provide them, and "expertise in professional writing" was one..teehee. I loved that. I love how people come to me and ask my opinion on stuff, or they just automatically assume that I know better than they do how to "professionally write" something. Its a really cool feeling. I had a meeting with Dusty this week to discuss this project he wants me to work on, the annual report they've never had before, and he scheduled a time with me and got the room for us and said he valued my opinion and was really listening to what I had to say - it's a really awesome experience to be in this kind of situation, I didn't really think I would be treated like this in an internship (and I'm sure my colleuges may not be having the same experiences I am...it's just that the WVUBI is very...young.) Not that being young is a bad thing...I wanted to say hip and fresh and new and inexperienced and kind of flying by the seat of their pants...there is not a feel of any of this being a negative thing, everyone here is very professional and there is no question of their work ethic or anything of that sort - but I think in another company, being an intern wouldn't be this experience of feeling that my opinion and knowledge matter....really matter in the workplace. They really treat their inters with respect - I'm sure it would be different somewhere else if there was some sort of writer or editor on staff, and I was under them, persay. I hope I am making myself clear here.

Shame on me for all of that being one paragraph.

End of Week 7 (is that possible?)

So here I sit at the Business Incubator, watching the clock. Fifteen minutes until Spring Break (wow). That seems a little crazy to me. I thought I should write in my blog now because I would probably forget to later on and wanted to make sure I could document this week freshly from my memory. I've just sent out a reminder email regarding that annual assessment Dusty had requested that I work out - I never got one email back from anyone about it, although Jo did say she had it typed out and just kept forgetting to send it to me. I think maybe that's why it seems like there's not much to do here...I'm going down a rabbit hole (?) but anyway...it seems as though in life people aren't willing to do things until it absolutely HAS to be done RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND..it's strange. I don't understand procrastination when you look at it rationally. I've been in college four years now and have spent countless hours on Facebook (of which I am not proud) but I have learned something, and seen it as well - procrastination is pointless. It is better to just do something and get it over with than to sit around and wait until it's almost too late to get it done. The same principle applies to other things in general, things that are not necessarily necessary - like this report. I mean, yeah I could be working on something else that NEEDED to be done, but since I've not been given an assignment like that recently, I started working on this idea Dusty had - I brainstormed out a rough outline of what I thought he was talking about and and sent that out to the people he wanted to be included - questions they could answer survey-style about their job for the past year. I realize this is not a pressing issue, especially since it's not something that's ever been done before, so they were not prepared to document what they've been doing and will therefore have to just rely on memory for the most part - but still. I realize they are busy and they have their own jobs to attend to and that my little survey is not the most pressing thing they are doing. But I am not given much to do. What I am given, I want to do quickly and precisely to make a good impression. I try to do assignments that way so it seems like I am capable and eager for work, but it seems like it just ends up being me not having anything to do. Sorry about this rant. It was a little pointless.

Everything is fine, I'm not aggitated that I haven't had any response yet - I wasn't really expecting any.

Have a nice break and see you on the other side.

Ciao.