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My name is Rachel Martens and to say that I’m a bookworm would be a huge understatement.

Books are everything to me; I’ve read thousands of books in the 19 years of my life and even written a few. I just published my first novel this summer and, in addition to this internship, I am actively involved with St. Norbert College’s newspaper and literary magazine. I intend to become a full-time novelist in the next few years, with a deadline for my second novel set next summer. If you saw me on the street, you’d never guess that I can write a horror story that would send chills down your spine.

I have about a hundred favorite books, but “Animal Farm”, “Wuthering Heights”, “Frankenstein”, and “The Hunchback of Notre Dam”e are certainly among them. My biggest guilty pleasure is reading young adult novels, such as the Hush, Hush and Mortal Instruments series, which tend to have marginal writing but a very high entertainment value. I can count on one hand the number of books I have started reading and not finished out of dislike or difficulty; I find something to love in almost every book I pick up.

I am a book collector surrounded by a generation of technology-lovers. I have been collecting books for a few years and have several bookcases full. There’s something about the feel of the paper under your fingertips, the sound of the pages turning and the scent of ink and pulp that makes the story that much more real.

My favorite thing about books is when I find a truly powerful ending.  It doesn’t have to be neat, tidy or happy, just powerful. One of my favorites is the ending from Animal Farm, “And the animals looked from man to pig, and from pig to man, and from man to pig again, but already it was impossible to tell which was which.”

The writer I admire most is Edgar Allan Poe and if there was one person, living or dead, that I could sit down for a cup of tea with, he would be my first pick without hesitation.

I am very excited about this internship for a lot of different reasons. Obviously, it is a huge move for my career that will provide me with experience and references essential to making a living as a writer. Furthermore, though, it combines two aspects of my life that I am very passionate about: writing and the Fox Cities. I have lived in the Fox Cities for most of my life and will likely never leave. Almost anything you could want to see or do is right here, within a twenty-mile radius of Appleton. We have a fantastic performing arts center, one of the largest malls in the region, countless restaurants of all kinds, comedy clubs, museums, and great nature trails and parks. For the next few months, I have the opportunity to learn and write about all of those attractions.