The final semester of my degree in Creative Writing and Professional Writing and Publishing gave me the opportunity to complete an internship. I was drawn to New Dawn as I found it integral to put creativity first before anything else when deciding on where to go, and it was an added bonus that it was a publishing house.
I’ve had a love for reading and books ever since I explored my grandparents’ ceiling to floor bookshelf and found comfort in the fictional worlds that I could escape to. The story books that I grew up reading with fairies and magic brought about activities like making fairy homes and exploring to find any strange creatures in my backyard. Even though I have since found these characters to be purely fiction, my imagination has still been useful for the stories that I love to read and write.
At New Dawn, I was lucky enough to find myself in a work environment with people as interested and passionate about books and fiction as me. Throughout my degree my favourite aspects of writing and publishing was always related to fictional pieces, whether it was writing or reading them. From my placement I have had the opportunity to see the bits and pieces of what the final months of a book publishing process entails and how much work is put into every detail.
The process of reviewing submissions also gave me a new insight in the other side of writing and what can really grab a reader’s attention. There is something I find so fascinating about the beginning of a piece when it’s in its raw manuscript form before it has been through the editing process. You get to see the potential of an idea that could be printed out in-between a cover and placed on bookshelves in the future.
As much as my degree has provided me with an understanding of the writing and publishing industry, it would never have been able to provide me with the experience that my internship has. Now, whenever I pick up a book, there’s so many extra things I think about other than the story alone. I think of the decisions made to have the specific colours and design for the cover, what scenes and descriptions may have been added last, and what team worked together to get it all completed.
I am grateful that New Dawn has provided me with my first step into the writing and publishing industry through a welcoming work environment for the duration of my internship. My thoughts and ideas were always accepted, which was apparent as I’ve had the chance to be involved in New Dawn’s book club and assist with decisions for manuscripts in meetings. I have been able to put my education into practice for the first time in a setting outside of university and it has revived and reminded me of my love for stories and creating them. I can now see that there is so much more to writing and publishing than the initial pen to paper.
Enter your email to join our list for updates, book launches & other information.
© New Dawn Publishing 2022 | TOS | PRIVACY | Website by Thorn Creative
