Katie McCoach

Intern Spotlights: Week 4, Wrap-Up

Superstition Review
Where are they now?

We are so proud of our past and present staff here at Superstition Review, and we’ve decided to celebrate the accomplishments of our past interns throughout the month of April. Each day, we will feature an intern on social media and share what they’re up to now. Then, at the end of each week, we will share a wrap-up post of all our featured interns from that week. So, without further ado, we present our last week of intern spotlights:

1. Leah Newsom: Interview Editor, Issue 15 (Spring 2015) and Issue 16 (Fall 2015)

April 24: Twitter and Facebook announcements, find Leah on LinkedIn

Leah NewsomMore details: Leah shares, “Since graduating with my BA in Creative Writing, I got an amazing job working as a content developer for a boutique design group called Monomyth Studio. I also returned to ASU as an MFA candidate in fiction (and am just now rounding out my first year). I still run Spilled Milk Magazine, an online literary magazine featuring brief prose and poetry. It’s great to continue engaging with my literary community outside of the university, and to work with friends (now across the country!) on such an ambitious project. It’s hard to say what it is I love about what I do. I obviously feel very compelled to write and to read and to talk about writing and reading, but I am still figuring out why. I probably will always be figuring it out. I think, in a way, this curiosity—this ignorance—is a necessary thing. I need the surprise of a beautiful sentence, the wonder of a unique image. I probably wouldn’t be writing, otherwise.”

2. Brianna Perkins: Social Networker, Issue 9 (Spring 2012)

April 25: Twitter and Facebook announcements, find Bri on LinkedIn

Bri PerkinsMore details: Bri shares, “My life has deviated quite a bit from that ‘master life plan’ that I created back in 2012, and to be honest, I’m glad it did. I found it is far more exciting to sit back and enjoy the twists and turns in the road than try to make it fit this unrealistic image my crazy 20-year-old brain had concocted. I packed my bags, said goodbye to the Arizona desert, and moved to Massachusetts. In the years since, I’ve traveled through Europe with just a pair of worn out sneakers and a backpack, bought a house, knocked down a few walls, and met some amazing people.  Not long after my big move, I started at Springfield College in a position that was the college’s response to the wild growth of an unpredictable monster: technology. As we all know, technology changes faster than that banana on your kitchen counter turns brown. In this role, it is my job to stay ahead of the curve as best as I can. It is one part fortune teller, one part inventor, and one part translator. I create new ways to integrate engaging and immersive technologies in a way that not only makes sense, but is meaningful. I learned quickly how to translate from Techie to actual English. It has made me every relative’s favorite person and I’m sure I’m on the speed dial for more than a handful of grandparents (none of which are my own). I started doing outreach and communications for IT. I launched a YouTube channel for training and development. I started doing workshops for faculty, staff, and students. The role has grown exponentially. Springfield College recognized that there is this emerging need for creating technology literacy and as of May 1st, I’ll be pioneering yet another new position: Learning and Development Coordinator. This position will give me the time I need to provide development and training opportunities to staff, faculty, and students in a language that makes sense to them and in a way that makes technology seem a little less intimidating (and dare I say it fun).

“In my spare time, I do quite a bit of consulting. I’m currently on a one-year contract with Springfield Technical Community College as an Outreach and Technology Coordinator where I’m working with their Supplemental Instruction team to launch their own YouTube channel and outreach programs. I’ve designed catering menus for local restaurants, logos for new initiatives, and even jumpstarted a few marketing campaigns and social networking strategies. Even Arizona State University couldn’t get rid of me; from time to time I work as a voice actor for some of their systems. Fun fact: if you call any phone line at Arizona State with an automated phone menu, it is my voice you’re hearing.  I’d tell you my future plans, but as I’ve learned, I can plan all I want, but life has its own trajectory. All I know is that the time I spent has Superstition Review has been absolutely vital in getting me where I am and I am so thankful for the opportunity I had while there. I’m so proud to see how far it has come and I can’t wait to see what is next for the SR family.”

3. Katie McCoach: Fiction Editor, Issue 6 (Fall 2010)

April 26: Twitter and Facebook announcements, find Katie on LinkedIn

Katie McCoachMore details: Katie shares, “When I finally realized that I could be my own boss and do story editing (not even copy editing!) all day long, I knew that nothing else would be as fulfilling. I opened KM Editorial, LLC in 2012 with not a client to my name. But since then I’ve grown my business to be a stopping ground for many authors in need of all levels of editing. I have a whole team behind me now. I love what I do. It’s funny sometimes when I consider the fact that I dole out criticism for a living. But it’s so rewarding. I get to work with authors all day long and help them create fabulous stories. I see them grow as writers. It’s amazing to see my collection of clients’ books fill my bookshelf. But honestly, even better than that is when I get that email from an author saying, ‘I’m so excited to dive into revisions!'”

4. Cassie Tolman: Poetry Editor, Issue 1 (Spring 2008)

April 27: Twitter and Facebook announcements, find Cassie on LinkedIn

Cassie TolmanMore details: Cassie is a creative entrepreneur who owns Pomegranate Cafe (vegan/vegetarian, organic, locally sourced, crafted with love) in Phoenix, AZ. She shares, “There are so many opportunities to express myself and share ideas through writing as a business owner.  I am currently creating an Indie Gogo campaign to help fund our expansion, and being able to write with authenticity and heart is essential to sharing our mission and creating community.  I also use freestyle writing/journaling as a daily practice to connect with my dreams and the quiet world around me.  I see words like imaginary seeds we plant that can grow off the page into wild and beautiful gardens with a life of their own.  Being part of the Superstition Review when it first began was an exciting, new experience for me.  I feel really fortunate to have been a small part of the beginning of a dream that has now taken shape and enriched the lives of so many people!”

5. Caitlin Keniston: Nonfiction Editor, Issue 9 (Spring 2012)

April 28: Twitter and Facebook announcements, find Caitlin on LinkedIn

Caitlin KenistonMore details: Caitlin shares, “After graduating from ASU, I applied to every publication company I could find in the Phoenix area. I was lucky to be hired by Target Market Media Publications, a national publisher of trade magazines. As the editor, I work with our clients, writers and proofreaders to get each of our magazines ready for publication. I learned a lot in college, but it does not compare to the experience of working in the field. I feel blessed to have found a career in writing and editing. While it’s partly luck and good timing, I also think you need to have a certain drive to make it actually work.”

6. Dominique Brigham: Art Editor, Issue 11 (Spring 2013)

April 30: Facebook announcement, find Dominique on LinkedIn

Dominique BrighamMore details: Dominique is a graduate student at the University of Amsterdam in the Cultural Analysis research MA program. She shares, “As the student Art Editor of Superstition Review, I had the wonderful opportunity of putting all my time spent learning about art in Florence to good use! While I did my BA in English literature, I loved being able to branch out into a different discipline, and Superstition Review gave me that opportunity. Currently, I am writing my thesis for my Master’s in Cultural Analysis at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where I’ve enjoyed a fantastic and interdisciplinary program with fellow international students. My research deals with adaptation and translation theory, centered around the Pokémon franchise and Pokémon: The First Movie in particular, and I hope to pursue a PhD on how transmedia storytelling has impacted the way popular franchises are built now and for the future. In time not spent on academic work, however, I am a volunteer proofreader for WordFire Inc. and a freelance copyeditor, though I would like to turn this into a more permanent career. I am also co-authoring a four book fantasy series, which will hopefully see its first query letters being sent to various publishing companies in the near future!”

Thank you so much to these interns for their service with us; you are all doing such amazing things, and we’re so proud!

Past Intern Updates: Katie McCoach

Superstition Review

Katie McCoach, Issue 6 Nonfiction Editor, discusses her experience at Superstition Review and other internships and how they gave her the experience to pursue her ideal career.

dsc_0507Until my internships with Superstition Review, Ellechor Publishing, and Folio Literary Management, I had no idea where my Creative Writing and Communications degrees were going to take me. I knew I enjoyed the degrees I had chosen for myself, but what job would I end up with? I felt like the only choices I kept hearing were technical writing, teaching, or apply for MFA programs.

Those options weren’t for me. But then the lingering question; what was?

Well, a few internships later I discovered my dream job, and the path to take to get there. Fast forward a year and here I am now, pursuing my dream. Half of my time goes to an author marketing company where I spend the day executing marketing campaigns for traditional and self-published authors, and the other half of my time is spent freelance editing as Katie McCoach Editorial. I edit and critique manuscripts, query letters, website content, and newsletters. When I look back at how in the world I got here, it comes down to six things interning did for me, so I wanted to share them here for you.

  1. Real Life Experience – I know you hear this all the time. Enough already, right? But it really cannot be expressed enough. The internships I held were all very different from one another and from each of them I discovered this whole world I knew nothing about. I learned how to communicate with authors, how to hone instinct in selling, selecting, and editing, and I saw the different roles each person can play in the publishing industry. Many of the things I learned in my internships I would never have learned by just my degree alone.
  2. Discover What You Want  – A couple years ago, I was the Nonfiction Editor for Issue 6 of Superstition Review. Here I learned the in and outs of a literary magazine: how to communicate with authors and pique interest, how to develop an instinct for selecting the best work for the issue that season, and I had a chance to read amazing work by so many brilliant writers. At one point, I was asked to give comments on one of the pieces, to see if there were any suggestions or feedback we could contribute. This was my favorite part, and it wasn’t even one of my typical duties. That’s when the first hint of what I wanted to do as a career began to hit me.
  3. Conduct the Ultimate Interview – Internships are jobs. Although they are temporary and often times only a few months long, they are still jobs. This is your chance to conduct the ultimate interview – how does this job fit with your personality? How are your skills best utilized? Can you see yourself here in five years? How could you move up in the industry? I worked for a literary magazine, publishing company, and literary agency. I saw very different roles of the publishing industry, and from it I discovered where I fit best.
  4. Path to Your Dream Job – Every person in your industry started somewhere, maybe even interning exactly where you are now. So ask them – how did they get their job? What about their boss’s boss? The path to your dream job becomes readily available to you as an intern and this is your chance to begin it.
  5. Perspective – I chose to intern at companies that were all related to publishing and from this I saw different parts of the industry that I could have never seen if I hadn’t worked in the areas I did. Interning at Superstition Review I saw the literary magazine side of publishing. The publications in literary magazines across the country influence contests and grants. These contests can mean referrals for lit agents, which in turn can mean a sale to an editor, and the next book a publishing company picks up. There is much more to it than that of course, but I now am able to see the industry as a whole, which gives me perspective, especially in relation to the job I chose to pursue.
  6. Connections – This is another one of those things we hear a lot. I currently live in Los Angeles and I am surrounded by the film and TV industry. I see first-hand how connections are the only way to establish your place in that industry. The same goes for publishing, though depending on the path you choose, it might not be quite as cutthroat. When I first moved to LA I attended one of those kind-of-awkward-but-you-push-through-it networking events. I was wary at first, and then I met someone who was starting her own marketing business. She needed an editor for her website content and what do you know, here I was, an editor. On top of gaining business with her, she also had a friend who was a literary agent, and that agent knew other freelance editors, and by then my connections had tripled. This happened just from a two-hour networking event, so imagine what a semester-long internship can do.

Interning was definitely the right choice for me and my career path, and – I have to cliché it up right here – I would not be in the position I am today without it.

If you are a current or past intern, what has interning done for you? If you are debating interning, what things do you hope to gain from the experience?

Katie McCoach graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2011 with her Bachelor’s of Arts in Creative Writing and Communications. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA as a freelance editor. She has had essays published in TrainWrite and Kalliope. You can visit her at www.katiemccoach.com and on Twitter @katiemccoach

Meet The Interns: Katie McCoach

Superstition Review

Katie McCoach is in her senior year at Arizona State University majoring in Communications and Creative Writing with her focus in Fiction. Katie is originally from a small town in Maryland and decided on a whim to attend college 2000 miles away from her childhood home. She has had a nonfiction piece published in Kalliope and currently writes for a volunteer newsletter.

Superstition Review: What is your position with Superstition Review and what are your responsibilities?

Katie McCoach: This is my first semester with Superstition Review as a Nonfiction Editor. It is my job to solicit submissions, correspond with authors, review submissions, and decide on which pieces will be published in the magazine. And at the end of the year we have our launch party for the issue.

SR: Why did you decide to get involved with Superstition Review?

KM: I am very interested in the publishing business/world and there is no better way to learn about than be apart of it. I love that I get to be a part of the decision making process of what is published; it’s great to be able to show readers what these authors have in them and be a part of that.

SR: Besides interning for Superstition Review, how do you spend your time?

KM: A lot of my time is spent on schoolwork and at my part-time job, but also a lot of it is spent writing; I’m completing my capstone in fiction and I write nonfiction and blog on the side. Besides that I love just being able to grab a margarita with my friends and unwind.

SR: What other position(s) for Superstition Review would you like to try out?

KM: I think interview editor would be a neat position. In my nonfiction class this summer I got a taste for interviewing and I also write mini interviews at my part-time job; I find interviewing different people so interesting because they all have stories to tell.

SR: Describe one of your favorite literary works.

KM: I’ll have to say my favorite author instead, which is Augusten Burroughs. I’m pretty sure I read Sellevison first which is his only fiction piece and it’s hilarious, besides that I’ve read all his nonfiction works and love them. He is an incredible memoirist and my favorite pieces happen to be the simplest moments versus his crazy childhood or alcohol addiction. I love when memoirists make the small moments the most interesting and that is what I reach towards and will hope to find in submissions this semester.

SR: What are you currently reading?

KM: I just finished a young adult series by Scott Westerfeld called Uglies. Even though I should have outgrown young adult fiction by now, I think that they are the most enjoyable works; my favorite part of reading is just letting go and with Scott Westerfeld’s work I can do just that.

SR: Creatively, what are you currently working on?

KM: Right now I am working on my capstone project, which is a few fiction short stories and revising them a lot. And another longer project I’m working towards is a themed short story collection.

SR: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

KM: In 10 years? That’s too far to know! I am not one to overly plan my future because I know things never go as planned completely, but I do hope to be published, living in California and working with a publishing company or in the background of the movie industry. As long as I never stop writing and am happy–if in 10 years I can say that, then I’ve reached success.