Tag Archives: byline

My Summer at FITNESS

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This is the view I’m used to seeing every day.

And this is the view I’m now seeing.

Talk about a change of scenery. My internship has wrapped up and I’m back in good ole’ upstate New York. But I must say I miss the city that never sleeps. So in honor of my NYC withdrawals, I took a look back on my unforgettable summer (for the millionth time) and created a list of the top five things I did during my internship. Stay tuned for my top five things about being in the city!

#1. Seeing my byline.

The coveted goal of a frugal editorial intern, I dreamed of seeing my name in print or on the web before the summer was over. I did a lot of work for FITNESS and you’ll see the fruits of my labor in upcoming issues. My name won’t be attached to everything, but I love the rush I get when I flip through the glossy pages and know that I researched, edited, designed or wrote the content. When my name is there for everyone to see, well, that’s like walking into an air-conditioned building on a 103-degree day in NYC. So be on the lookout for my name in the next few months. But if you just can’t wait, take a gander here.

#2. Interviewing Jillian Michaels and Jackie Warner.

Do I really need to say more? I’m obsessed with “Biggest Loser,” and Jackie Warner is a huge fitness celebrity. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be able to interview these two. They’re both extremely helpful and didn’t have diva syndrome. Be proud of me, too — inside my head, the “Oh my god, I’m such a huge fan” thoughts were racing a mile a minute, but I was calm and professional on the outside. Both were shocked when they later found out I was an intern because of my poise and professionalism. Score!

#3. Testing out fitness classes, equipment and events.

You know your job is awesome when you get paid to work out, test the latest machine, or go to press events in brand new Nike gear and run with four-time Olympic gold medalist, Michael Johnson. I love that on most days, I didn’t have to schedule in a workout because it was already a part of my work day.

#4. Finding a blue jump rope.

It sounds weird, right? I spent one day scouring all of NYC looking for a blue jump rope for a photo shoot. Living in the concrete jungle, you’d think I’d be able to cross this off my to-do list in under 10 minutes. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy. After checking eight sports stores and four toy stores, I decided to get creative. Not willing to fail, I went to the gym I had a membership with and “borrowed” the rope. Members aren’t allowed to take equipment out of the gym, but you can rent them out to use during your workout.  So in exchange for my ID, I slyly slipped the rope in my gym bag and waltzed out of there. The risk of being caught was worth it when I saw the overjoyed face of my editor. Besides, I returned the rope at the end of the day, no harm, no foul.

#5. Working with amazing people.

Never underestimate the importance of your co-workers. There wasn’t a single person I didn’t enjoy working with at FITNESS. Each one was imperative to the development of my skills and the success of my work. Working at a magazine is like being a part of a well-oiled machine. You have to rely on a lot of people to complete one project successfully. If you don’t enjoy working with them, you won’t end up with a great product. Always strive to say that you never worked a day in your life. This summer, that statement couldn’t have been more true. The fact that I was paid was just icing on the cake.

By Samantha Shelton

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My byline is online! My byline is online! My byline is onli-iiiii-ne!

Phew, I’m glad I got that out of my system.

My. byline. is. online!!!

Okay, now I got it out of my system. For now. It’s probably not as big of a deal to my followers as it is to me, but it’s still a pretty significant accomplishment. At 20 years old, I have achieved my first byline as a professional writer in a national magazine that circulates to over 1.5 million people.

The slideshow I created is connected to the homepage poll for the week, so you can access it on the main page of the website. That in itself is an accomplishment. It’s  about which celebrity our readers would want as a running buddy. People always dream of being able to hang out with a celebrity; our readers often dream of enduring an exhilarating sweat session with a celebrity. So in order to gauge reader interest, I created the slideshow to find out which celeb they most want to hit the pavement with.

When you check out the slideshow (Yes, I meant when, not if), you’ll probably notice how small it is. But even though it’s small, I’m still proud of it. A lot of work went into that slideshow. First, I’m used to writing for newspapers. No cute stuff and very minimal word-play exists in the newspaper world. So this project was actually one of my biggest challenges. I had to train myself to write for a magazine; to make sure  a personable voice came across with every word choice. Because our readers don’t want only straight facts. They want to be talked with rather than talked at; they want to read the words on the page as if they’re having a conversation with a friend. This isn’t exactly the easiest task after you’ve been trained to do the exact opposite for over three years. Nonetheless, after a lot of writing and re-writing, working with my editors and morphing my words to suit the FITNESS voice, I had the edit ready. Task number one was finished.

Second,  I had to secure the images. No, I didn’t spend my afternoons stalking Serena Williams, Kelly Ripa, Hilary Swank and Sheryl Crow (although that would’ve been cool for the day) to get these photos. Instead, I had to follow many procedures to ensure that I was not stealing any photos from people who do actually stalk these celebs. Once I did that, task number two was complete.

Next came story forming, which consists of inputting all your information onto a blank template that is sent to the production team. Text from the article, organized in a very specific manner, is included with links to the images I secured, as well as external links to other articles our readers could find on the website that are similar to my own. When I first started story forming, it would take me about 45 minutes to an hour to complete one. Luckily, I am now able to finish story forming a small-sized article in about 20 minutes. So once I filled out the form, it was sent to two of my editors for final review. Once approved, a release date is set and the form is whisked off to the production team, who makes sure the slideshow is live by that date. Task number three was done.

After that, I waited for the release date. As you can see, it is now live and people are voting. So log on to fitnessmagazine.com and vote for which star you would want as a running buddy in this celebrity face-off!