Fall Intern has a Writer’s Soul
Dark-humored and boisterous, my new intern Abigail “Abby” Taylor has always seen the value in the written word. That means she will fit right in!
A junior at Westfield State University, Abby has taken pen to paper about nature while sitting on her front porch since the age of 10 in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and she has used writing as a creative and therapeutic tool as well.
Abby grew up with the “Brady Bunch” of three older siblings and two parents. Her house is a caucus full of Democrats, her brother working for a New Hampshire senator and sister Jess working for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. There are two politicians, two teachers, and one caregiver in the family for Abby to emulate. While her mother begs her daily to become a nurse, Abby couldn’t drift from writing if she wanted to, and her father and sister keep her lust for school and education burning.
When junior year rolled around in high school, Abby took a philosophy class with a teacher she will never forget. A septuagenarian who was committed to teaching indefinitely, he inspired Abby to strengthen her work ethic. This mentor conditioned his students to have thoughtful discussions in class, and that transformed Abby’s learning experience and drive for English studies.
Although Abby’s siblings are everything to her, their vast success has daunted her. Writing allowed her to overcome this hurdle of anxiety. Scripting her darkest feelings turned into a creative process that was therapeutic when she suffered a depressive episode during her senior year of high school.
In her internship at Beetle Press this fall, Abby hopes to take her writing foundation and build on it, learning how writing can be used in the work place to raise awareness for organizations and tell their rich stories. She also hopes to deepen her knowledge of the creative writing process.
Abby’s dad says she has the soul of a writer, which means worlds to her, since he was a sports columnist before he became a teacher. Abby and her father identify as the “thinkers” of the family—the philosophical intellectuals.
So, at Westfield State, where she is majoring in English with a concentration in writing, Abby is taking ethnic and gender studies classes, and writing classes in fiction and poetry. In creative writing last year, she realized her niche for poetry. She wants to write poetry that contributes to the conversation of our nation’s well-being, evoking feeling that can be put into action.
Abby also has a deep interest in music and considered an internship with the WSKB radio station on her campus. After an interview with me, she decided she enjoyed the at-home work environment of my office and could see herself grinding words away at my dining table—the intern station here. Also, in a meeting with her internship coordinator at school, Professor George Layng told Abby that working with me would expand both her business and creative writing capabilities. On board she came!
Abby hopes her internship will help her advance her skills so that she can write about issues she cares about, such as the current political climate, the human experience, and turning mundane observation into graphic imagery.
She will be doing research, writing press releases, helping with social media and contributing to other projects. I hope Abby can also help me grow my audience on JaniceBeetle.com and help me finalize a manuscript I have been working on for too many years.
Abby will graduate in May 2019. She hopes to eventually write for a magazine or possibly enter the PR industry. I can see already that, even though she is quiet—like I was at her age—Abby is intelligent, learns quick, and has a real depth of spirit. I believe her father is correct. Abby has a writer’s soul, and I hope to help her dig deeper—to write and operate from a profound place in all her work.
