From nervous beginner to publisher insider

From nervous beginner to publisher insider: Week Two as a German Intern Experience in Ireland

Hello everyone, 

Today are the last few hours of my internship with ShadowScript Wordsmiths, the end of an era some might say or the start of something new. Over my past weeks here in Ireland I have developed as a person and flourished in my new working environment. Looking back at my time here, I am extremely grateful for all the amazing opportunities which were presented to me and all the incredible people I was given the chance to work with. I don’t think this experience could have been any better. Across the two weeks I developed many skills and have worked on them from week one to week two.

Last first day

In the final days of my first week, I was given a manuscript to work through. This I continued to do in my second week with it being my main task for the first day. The main advice given to me in order to edit this manuscript was to be as honest as possible. Without honesty, improvement cannot happen. Still, at first it was not easy to do as it felt harsh at times. However, after spending a day in front of the screen reading through sentences, pages, chapters, I had worked my way through the day and saw how my comments might well improve the manuscript. 

In order to complete the chapter of my first day, I had my daily task; make a video on the day's events. With the sun shining in my face and baby foxes jumping around me as though they had no care in the world, I created my video. With such great, unusual weather in Ireland, I could not miss my opportunity to use the brilliant weather in my video. As expected, the sunrays put a spotlight on my newest video. 

Taking Publishing on the Road

After staying in Dublin over the weekend, I hopped on the train early in the morning  to return to Galway and the ShadowScript headquarters. However, I could not only start working once I got there - that would have given me two hours of rest. Impossible. Therefore, I had brought with me ‘Aspects of Irish Agriculture - A Year inBblogs’ by Anne Hayden, a ShadowScript author. Sitting on the train, with the Irish fields and landscapes passing by, I thought this would be a great fit. From time to time, I would look out of the window and see what I was reading right in front of me. Magical. As many say “May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road.” and I really believe this is true from what I saw. 

Once completing my read, I was not able to immediately create a video due to the amount of noise and people surrounding me. Therefore, I opened my laptop and set to work on the task that was constantly hovering over me; the manuscript. Looking through it, I made some constructive comments on the sections I thought appropriate. For me, this task has been incredibly interesting by seeing how the initial ideas of an author are consistently changed and improved.

Upon my arrival at the train station, after a long two hour ride which I was luckily able to fill with work, I was greeted by my boss, Niall, Head of Client Advocacy at the ShadowScript Group. On such an amazing sunny day, we could not miss the opportunity to work in the warmth of the sun and film more videos in the great outdoors. I read the book ‘Exploring Connectedness: Millennials and Gen Z’, written by Darina Callanana and Susan McKenna. I was lucky enough to be able to work with Susan over the past two weeks and have learnt a great deal from her and about her work. 

From Meeting to Investigating

When speaking of incredible people, I had the pleasure of having a client meeting with author Karen Gallen who wrote the book ‘Here I am, but am I Here?’. During my meeting with her, I was able to get answers on her experience of being an author and expressing her experience in a book. Up until then, I was only exposed to the publisher's side of the process and it was very interesting to learn about the other side of the picture. Another point on my ‘To Do’ list ticked.

It was a great experience to meet a ShadowScript client in person. I had previously met a few online, however it was a very different feeling meeting them in person. It allowed the conversation to flow easily.

In a process of reflection, I wrote a blog on our discussion, emphasising how much I had learnt from the author. However, this was not the only exciting part of my day. At the start of my internship, I was given the task to find the graves of two young Germans who had travelled to Ireland and never left.

ShadowScript poet John Ennis, wrote a poetry book on their story so they would not be forgotten but he could not find their final resting place. Therefore, I had been searching without much luck for one and a half weeks in order to complete my task. Nevertheless, through perseverance and critical thinking, I was able to uncover the mystery before me. This left a profound sense of achievement to the end of the day.

Yet, before putting down my pen for the day, I still had one task to complete. I had read a book the day before on the train but had not had the chance to complete my review for it. That was what had been left to do.

A Poetic Farewell

 On the 28th of May was Ireland poetry day with the theme being home. To find a poem that relates to my home was very straightforward:  German, well known and absolutely not sad. Therefore, I went with the poem ‘Er Ists’ by Eduard Moerike, 1829. With thoughts of spring, happiness, and anticipation swirling in my mind, I created a video of my poetry reading in the morning. Almost instantly afterwards, my lovely host gave me a large insight on Galway; she brought me to Pascal's pancakes. I have to say it gave me a great insight on how it would be to live in Galway on a day to day basis and exactly where to get good food. 

On my way back from breakfast, I was called back into work to give a detailed account of my findings on the previous day. Then, we took it a step further and decided to find out more about these two young Germans. I searched multiple newspaper archives without so much as a glimpse of the names I was looking for. Then Niall came over like a good luck charm and the articles I had been looking for appeared on my screen. What luck! 

Once I got over the surprise and excitement of finding more than I had to, I returned back to my normal routine. Read a book, make notes, make a video. However, this was slightly different as instead of one book I was given seven. The ‘Mental Health for Millenials’ series! This was a series with a large contribution of authors over a large span of time, the first book published in 2017 and the last one in 2023. After I flicked through and skimmed all the books, I made my video, closing the chapter on my video process of the last two weeks. And just like that it’s a wrap!

A Heartfelt Thank you

As my two-week internship has come to an end, I would like to say thank you to the whole ShadowScript group for giving me such a great experience, opening doors for my future, and allowing me to flourish in a new environment. This internship exceeded all of my expectations and looking back, I would not have changed a thing. From the people I have met to the work I was allowed to do, all has changed me in a positive way, and I think I am going back to Germany as a more confident and self assured person. Thank you for giving me this growth, thank you for this amazing experience, and thank you for accepting my application so many months ago.

Neela Adenäuer    29.05.26