I recently celebrated my first two months here. The summer staff has left, and the needs and priorities are shifting here. My boss and I are beginning to prioritize drafting and revising her manuscript (more on that later!!). I am getting accustomed to a change in routine and community, and despite not being in school or living in a climate that experiences autumn, I have that ‘back to school’ feeling.

New Hope Girls sent 25+ girls to school this past week. Here are three safe houses at New Hope Girls. I live in the “university house” or “la casa universidad,” with three teenagers beginning their senior year of high school, one being a third-year college student and one co-worker my age. During my first two months here, it was difficult to find a quiet spot in a house or a cool place to sit outside (well, that part is still true). Beginning this past Monday, the house is cleared out by seven in the morning! This is when I either commute to Santiago to work with my boss or work from home.

My work is more internal now. External activities at the safe houses have been turned into after-school activities and sports practices—and as a result, office work is ramping up, the manuscript needs to be completed soon, and work-related trips are becoming a priority.

I am most excited about the special project that solidified my position here: completing and publishing my boss’s memoir.

Earlier this year, my boss, Joy, set her February aside to complete a 30,000-word manuscript, which she describes as New Hope Girls’ memoir. 40 stories chronicle the organization’s establishment and the prayer, grace, faith, restoration, and provision that occurred along the way—It is amazing!

I am blown away by what I get to be a part of.

When I arrived two months ago, in June, I was tasked to work through the manuscript slowly, developmentally editing it along the way. After Joy and I decided that self-publishing was the route we wanted to take, Joy hired a publishing consultant to aid with the story formation and distribution processes. The three of us have become a team!

His job is to consult during revision, suggest marketing strategies, and oversee all distribution processes. My job is to developmentally edit the manuscript alongside Him (I do the first round, he does the second), then copyedit to printing standard, and then proofread the manuscript to perfection. Additionally, I’ll work with New Hope staff to strategize and execute marketing campaigns.

Again…it floors me that I get to do this. This is my dream project. I feel incredibly lucky to do something like this so early in my career.

Perhaps the process I am most excited about is the first round of edits. Joy is currently about 10,000 words short of the word count a book of this genre needs to be at. So, I’ve already created a scheduled plan for how we are going to get the content to that level. Joy and I have planned multiple writing retreats where she writes, I edit, and we revise together.

The second draft of the manuscript must be complete by January, so we currently have four months to complete it. Considering Joy is the organization’s president, this is a difficult feat, but we both have a lot of momentum and excitement in completing this project. And the story of New Hope Girls…wow. I feel honored to help Joy document this story and to share it with others! We hope it can honor everyone involved.

The three other interns are gone, the pool parties are fewer, the camps are complete, and the summer season is officially over. I have lived a whole season here. This fills me with encouraging pride—I feel much more settled here and am gaining confidence. I want to be steadfast. I want to try my best to honor the seat at the table that has been so graciously offered to me, and I am learning a lot.

Happy back-to-school, everyone!

cred: @newhope.girls — the girls before the first day of school!