Journal Entry 2

My work at the midpoint of my internship has been a little more rigorous.  Previously my research has been mostly confined to answering singular inquiries about specific companies and their policies with the intent of making it easier for my Supervisor to focus on her writing.  I would receive these inquiries whenever she had them and I would do my best to find an answer as quickly as possible.  Recently she handed me a list of sites that promote recently or soon to be released books that are free or at a bargain costs.  I was tasked with determining the suitability of each site for her purposes and determining whether the site was a good investment.  This was a rather long list and going all the way through it with a consistent standard of thoroughness took me a little over a week.  The most interesting thing I found about this work was that I could start to recognize about where these sites fit in on the spectrum of quality.  I learned the signs for a healthy site and that felt like I was really coming to understand some very practical aspects of the work of an independent writer.  One thing I will look for in the future to see if a site is exceptional is their Twitter following.  Sites with large Facebook followings are common but Twitter followers seem to be harder to gather for sites like these.   When a site does have a lot of Twitter followers, it is a sign they may have an exceptional reach.   

When the book talked about a certain amount of discouragement that ought to be expected with an internship, this was the point for me.  I was working my internship and house sitting for some people at my church at their home which was a fair distance from my house.  I had to endure a storm which put out my internet as I was trying to work and knocked over part of the fence.  I was watching two dogs at that house, and, without realizing that the fence had fallen, I let out the younger dog into the backward.  After hearing the dog bark from what sounded like the front of the house, I realized my mistake and ran outside waving the treat bag and wailing the dog's name like a maniac.  This minor catastrophe, mixed with a feeling of constantly not having enough time to get my work done and the extra-long task of the list of sites, left me feeling exhausted, discouraged, and frustrated with my own difficulty in getting to work.  This was a week that I had to get help for and I had to ask my Supervisor to give me more time.  We were at a point in our relationship where I still wasn't sure about how she would respond to such a request and I was ashamed to have to ask.  After I sheepishly expressed my issue, she encouraged me and gave me more time after getting some proof of my work, so far.  She was pleased and told me that I was on the right path and to keep at it.   

I speculate that I am going to get to work more closely with her own writing in the future.  I have already offered my assistance as a brainstorming partner and her new book is on its way to publication so I expect she will have me work with her new release in some way.