Intern #1's got to suck it up...

Up until this point of my Ed blogging, I've focused mostly on my
accomplishments as an intern, from getting a byline, being recognized
by my mag’s higher-ups, and for saving the day for a super-busy editor.

But, fellow edsters, I promise I'm not the super-intern that my entries
may make me out to be. I’ve been at my internship for over 2 months now and the amount of mistakes I’ve made thus far is, well, I can’t even count ‘em.

Of course, there was the time when I arranged for a messenger to pick up an
important package on the wrong day. Or the time that I hit “send” before
making sure the word doc on an urgent email was attached. And the time my editor told me to “check things over” for little mistakes and typos before I send them to her…ok, you get the point.

And sure, everyone makes these mistakes, and lucky for me, everything I've done incorrectly was entirely fixable. But, being the hard-on-myself, over-achieving,
perfectionist that I am by nature, I feel the need to magnify every minuscule mistake
to the point where I make it out to be something catastrophic. You could
only imagine the thoughts that run through my head at night; My editor hates
me. My magazine career is over before it even started. Why would any magazine ever want to hire me? Oh well—there goes my recommendation.

But hey, the whole point of an internship is to learn, right? And from my
mistakes, I've learned that, well, nobody's perfect(cheesy but true!). Editors don’t expect us interns to know everything(and trust me, they don’t either!) and they’re definitely going to tolerate a few mistakes cause they know we’re just learning the ropes of the biz. Plus, they were interns too back in yesteryear, so they totally know what it’s like to be in our shoes--or so I hope?

So, fellow interns, if you find yourselves making mistakes on the job, big or small, don’t let it get to you—these things are bound to happen. And hey, a little ridicule here and there never hurt anyone, right?

Me, on the other hand, I’ve gotta toughen up. Otherwise, my hopefully soon-to-be magazine career is going to be a really rude awakening.

-Ed’s Intern #1