Friday, July 6, 2012

What I Learned From My (Second) Byline

Hey Edsters,

Remember that previous writing assignment, the one I persistently worked on, the one that was postponed? You know, the one that I agonized over and shed my blood, sweat and tears into?

Well, it paid off….sort of.

One morning, as I was checking my email and gearing up for the day, my supervisor stopped by my desk. I thought she was going over an upcoming assignment. But instead, she had an unexpected gift for me.
“Have you seen this yet?” she inquired. When I replied that I hadn’t yet, she invited me to take a look at the latest edition of the magazine. It was the third one to appear in a series of special issues.

My heart pounding wildly, I hesitantly flipped through the thin, glossy pages to the back of the book. It was the moment of truth; one that I dreaded yet secretly yearned for over the past few weeks.

There it was: my byline.

I stared at it for a minute, transfixed on my name and the words I had written printed in the magazine. It felt a bit surreal, almost as though it was too good to be true. While this wasn’t my first byline with the magazine, it was the first one to appear in print.

“Good job,” my supervisor said, smiling.

Those two words of praise, simply stated, made my day. I felt as though I was on cloud nine; I couldn’t be happier. Later on, I left the building to celebrate and enjoy a real lunch break for the first time in weeks.

Little did I know then that my small victory would be so short-lived.

In a rare moment of downtime, at the end of the day I got a chance to chat with a few of my fellow interns. Since we work on different rotations and don’t always see each other on the same days, our workloads vary. One girl, overhearing our supervisor’s earlier praise, curiously questioned me on my byline. I explained that it was a special assignment from one of the senior editors and described my personal experience, hoping my advice would help since she would soon write one as well.

When I asked what she was working on, she casually mentioned she had covered both an industry wrap party for a TV show and red carpet premiere of a summer movie.

Wow.

She attended not one, but two events? Where was I when these were handed out?

Just when I was proud of myself for my second byline, I felt deflated that I was passed over for these entertainment events. While I should be grateful for the writing clip, I still want to experience these rare perks to make up for all those long stretches of transcribing. I’ve worked hard over the last several weeks, but I’m frustrated that I keep feeling left behind in the dust. 

I think need to take a different approach with my internship before time runs out. Any advice for me, Edsters?

XOXO.
Entertainment Intern

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