Novel Internship Inspires Student to Pursue Writing Career
August 29, 2003
Melissa Minetola just knew she didn't want to work at the dry cleaners again last summer. When she began to search for something closer to her interests, she had no idea she would end up as a publicist for an author -- and a novelist herself.
"I hated it," said the junior English major at the University of Richmond. "I didn't want to get up in the morning." So she looked for and found a better job in her hometown in northeastern Pennsylvania: an internship in the corporate communications department of a telecommunications company. While describing the opportunity as a "definite step up" for someone who wanted to work with words, not cleaning fluids, Minetola wasn't done just yet.
While looking on the university's Career Development Center's Web page one day, something struck her eye. An alumna giving some great career advice on the site was an actual published novelist, something Minetola really wants to be.
Erica Orloff, whose novel "Diary of a Blues Goddess" came out this month, not only advised Minetola online, but also responded to the student's e-mailed questions with another internship offer. Would Minetola like to help her publicize Orloff's book? Would she ever?
Minetola said Orloff inspired her. "She had pursued exactly what she wanted to do" in establishing a full-time writing career. Orloff just signed a six-book deal with Red Dress Ink and a three-book hardcover deal with Mira Publishing. She works from her home in Boca Raton, Fla.
The two women struck up an e-mail friendship. "We got to know each other a little better," says Minetola, who has never met her role model in person.
"It's surprising, but we're kind of like friends. We share our lives and are supportive of one another," all through e-mail.
Orloff sent Minetola a copy of her novel "Spanish Disco," and her forthcoming book. Orloff suggested that Minetola write an article on "chick lit," a genre popularized by Helen Fielding's "Bridget Jones's Diary."
"The label fits my work," Orloff told Minetola for her article. "Chick lit to me is finding a 'wicked and witty' first-person voice and telling a story that has some edge to it. For me, as a former comedy writer of two non-fiction books, the comedy has to be evident, even in the face of tragedy ... The book has to be wry. Publishers Weekly said Cassie Hayes, (the protagonist of "Spanish Disco") was 'caustic enough to take the varnish off of Bridget Jones's nails.'"
Minetola sees the genre as evolving from Jane Austen to Helen Fielding to Erica Orloff.
Orloff was "so helpful," Minetola said. "She suggested an angle and seemed to be thinking more of me than of herself." The help paid off, and Minetola's article has appeared in an online literary magazine and will possibly appear in others.
"She took me under her wing." Minetola says. "She taught me to believe in myself." Their online friendship continues, even to the point of critiquing each other's work. Orloff sent Minetola two chapters of a novel she's working on, and Minetola sent Orloff two chapters of a novel Minetola is now working on.
Minetola says Orloff has given her the courage to "make my dream come true."
Not to mention the strength to walk away from the dry cleaners.