When Gabrielle Freel headed to college five years ago, her thought was to become a criminalist. She loved shows like Criminal Minds and NCIS and wanted to learn more about profiling.

My intern for the spring semester from Westfield State University went into her freshman year thinking she would major in criminal justice and psychology. Then, the poetry portion of Gabby’s first creative writing class in her junior year sparked a literary flame she hadn’t felt smouldering before.

“There were so many things that needed to be written—that I needed to write,” Gabby says, noting that her path was suddenly just a bit clearer than mud.

Gabby began at Beetle Press a few weeks ago. She is organized and eager to learn, and I am enjoying the process of getting to know her and her work style.

Before Gabby knew she wanted to focus on writing, she spent her junior year with a literature concentration to be on the track to teach English at the secondary level. That was a turn in the wrong direction as well because she realized how structured the education field is.

That’s when the creative writing course came into play, and Gabby changed her focus from teaching to writing. Her professors told her she was a natural born writer.

I am seeing the same thing. Many young writers tend to be cliché and disorganized in putting their thoughts down, but Gabby coins her own phrases and uses metaphor well.

As part of her internship, she will help me review two client manuscripts and move them closer toward publication, and she will also help me with research and with blogs for clients and Beetle Press.

She is currently at work writing some brief pieces on the people behind some of the scholarships granted by Northampton Dollars for Scholars.

Wanting to write and learn more about the craft is what led Gabby to this internship.

I was pleased to have her tell me that the Beetle Press opportunity was pitched to her at school as the “premium internship.” Gabby thanks professors George Layng and Leah Nielsen for those sales pitches. I thank them too!

I have also heard George say that the Beetle Press internship is ideal because students can work with me on everything from PR and learning to write press releases to offering feedback on clients’ books and my own.

Gabby calls what the work here can offer her “a perfect smorgasbord of writing skills and publication knowledge.” She hopes that what she learns with me will launch her into her own writing career, and I am sure that is true.

Gabby has a lot to learn, but this is definitely the perfect environment for her to craft her skill and learn the essentials for having a successful career in the professional writing world.

“I finally feel like I’m on a straight path,” Gabby says.

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