Ambiance: LDS Living

How can I even begin to describe how perfect this internship is turning out to be?

I'll do my best.

It's like someone (and I think I know Who) put together everything I could ever want in a job and gift-wrapped it just for me.

You've got the great location with personal transportation...

See that reddish building? That's my building. It literally takes me two minutes to get to TRAX on time.

The amazing view...

Not the best photos, but you get the idea.

The roomy work space...

This is my half of the room, and the other side is just as roomy. We all have plenty of desk space, and the chairs are SO comfortable.

The awesome co-workers...

I'll get a group photo someday, but I snuck this one when they all gathered to look at leaves blowing around Temple Square. 

The personal computer...

And my own phone!

And the magazine with the content that I love reading AND being able to contribute to!

This is my own personal stack of issues to use as reference.

I kind of feel like a missionary again. The content of the magazine is all centered on the Church and how to better live the Gospel.  I have to look professional every day, and I have to remember to wear my "name tag".

Before I had this thing, I almost got stuck in the stairwell. It's a key card that you need to use the elevator and even get in and out of the stairwell. I don't want to ever lose it accidentally. It would be such a pain.

So about the actual job I'm doing.

Right off the bat I was given writing assignments. I was SO glad for that, because I do much better when I have a fixed idea of what exactly to write. I have two spreads of the September/October magazine that I'm in charge of, and then I have several online assignments as well. I've already finished one, and I plan to have the rest done in the next three weeks or so.

(I'll be doing web content more than print content, so you should really bookmark ldsliving.com, like the Facebook page, and subscribe to the free daily newsletter. You'll see my name occasionally if you pay attention!)

Then I have a few other leads that I'm gonna pursue on the side and write up just so my team can have extra material on hand. And because I want to show them that I'm proactive and productive and I'll go above and beyond my job description. Hopefully they'll like me enough to let me stay on even after the internship ends.

I'm just happy to be here.

As for my coworkers, so far I get along with the people just great! There's Kelsey, who's pretty much my mentor. She's the head editor (I think?), so I work closely with her (literally, we're desk neighbors), and she's the one I go to with questions or advice.

Then there's Jenny, who's assistant editor and puts together the daily newsletter and takes calls from subscribers to the magazine. She, Kelsey, and I are kind of our own team, and then there are three more  people who work with us but do marketing and such. Preston is the man in charge of that, and his intern is PJ. Then there's Jannalee, who works part-time and keeps us up-to-date on around-the-world Mormon news.

There are others on the team who are higher-ups and don't actually work in our circle of desks, so I don't know them as well. We had a meeting and they're super nice, but I mostly just work with Kelsey and Jenny.

It's really just seven or eight of us putting this whole magazine together AND running the website. It feels more like a newspaper job than the book-editing job I was aiming for, because they run a few stories every day on the website. They have stories planned six weeks in advance. It's so well organized that even though they have tons to do, nobody in the office is stressed out. We all have plenty of time to complete our assignments and plan ahead for future stories.

In short, it's perfect! The work environment is amazing, the job itself is my forte, and I want to work! The hours almost pass too quickly, and I find myself working on things even when I'm at home and off the clock.

So please pay attention to LDS Living magazine, because I hope to stay here for a long, long time.