Perceptions and Illusions

Today is my first day unemployed.

I once wrote a short story with the moral "be careful what you ask for because you might get it." Maybe, just maybe, I should have listened to my own advice.

I've felt for a while that it was time for a change, but I was afraid. I didn't know what kind of change I needed, what I should do to improve things. So I prayed for guidance, for a clear message that would let me know what my next step in life should be.

The next thing I knew, I was told that my position as Head Librarian in the school was being cut, and I was out of a job.

Gulp!

Message heard loud and clear: I had outlived my time at the BC school.

But what next? What kind of job should I look for? Where was I best suited.

Gulp again! I've applied for over 50 jobs this summer, with nary a bite. Another message heard loud and clear. I need to start my own business.

The time has come to stand on my own two feet. To be my own boss. To join the world of business owners.

Time for the next adventure.

Labels: family, librarian, life, world

You hear about it in the news every day. This company is cutting positions, that person is getting laid off, the person over there cannot find a job.

I guess now I am joining the crowd of unemployed, laid-off, job seekers.

I had a meeting with my boss today, and he told me that due to decreased enrollment at the school where I work, there will not be a position for me next year. So there will be no Middle School / Upper School Librarian.

I know I have a biased viewpoint, but personally I think someone is being short-sighted. Today's librarians don't spend all their time reading, shelving, and chatting on the phone. As a matter of fact, if I listed everything I did in a day this blog entry would become horribly long. So I won't.

But I am amazed at how often people don't really know what a librarian does. How much value we add. The place we hold in our modern information overloaded society.

Hmmmm. It was a lot of hard work, so maybe I shouldn't gripe about being forced to move on. I'll just let them continue to think that all I did all day was sit around and twiddle my thumbs.

Labels: family, librarian, life, world

I unsubscribed from 65 sites today. Later I checked my email, and I had 25 new ones!

BLAH!

Good thing I didn't say it was okay to give out my information!

Labels: librarian, life, myth or reality, world

1. Buy the books for yourself (apparent, I know, but sometimes it really doesn't hurt to state the obvious. You would not believe the number of people who have asked me for a free copies of the Behold the Eye trilogy, even though I have to pay for the books just like everyone else)

2. Buy the books to give as gifts.

3. If you have ever purchased anything on Amazon.com, you can write a review. So go ahead--write one! (You could start with Braumaru) You don't have to use your real name, the author does not need to know that you are the reviewer. (I wouldn't, I promise!) The more reviews posted, the more popular the books seem, the more popular the books become! (People love to read what is popular, no one wants to feel left out of the know)

4. Make a list on Amazon.com that includes the books, and include other already popular books of a similar nature. You know the old saying, birds of a feather flock together!

5. Talk about the books to friends,acquaintances, and random people you meet on the street. (you might get the right person interested, and suddenly, the books are to be made into a movie. I can see it now, everyone will be talking about my trilogy. The bright lights of Hollywood, the...oh, sorry, I got a little carried away)

6. Teachers often read novels to their class. If the books are appropriate for school, like my Behold the Eye trilogy (5th grade and up), ask a teacher if he/she would read it to his/her class. Or, be still my heart, use it as a classroom novel!

7. Request the books at your library. Most public libraries welcome purchase suggestons, there is usually even a form online. (You do all have library cards, don't you?)

8. Ask bookstores if they carry the author...they probably don't now, but you never know, they might start.

9. If you come across a site that allows comments about books, don't be shy! Use every opportunity to get the word out about the books. There are a lot of people out there who would probably love the books (i.e. Behold the Eye trilogy) if they only knew about them. Spread the word! Spread the word! (You might even post a link to the author's site, which will also help.)

10. Books like the Behold the Eye trilogy are not backed by a big New York publishing budget. As a matter of fact, the small publisher who published the trilogy has an exceeding slim budget, one of those typically called shoestring. Since I want the books to do well, I have to do the marketing work myself. Alas I, like everyone else in the world who works fulltime and has a family, am very busy. So any and all support counts for a lot. If you want to help my books, it would be a very friendly gesture if you just let people know about them. Maybe we can find out if word-of-mouth advertising really works! (I struggled to come up with a really good metaphor about how knowledge of the trilogy could spread, but I somehow kept mixing growing flowers with exploding stars. It didn't work, so I'll just spare everyone and leave it out.)

Labels: Behold the Eye, blogging, Braumaru, Cerulea, family, librarian, life, publishing, Viridia, world, writing

I was so happy yesterday! I ran a report to see which books have been checked out most in the last 30 days in my library, and was totally shocked to see Behold the Eye: Braumaru listed as #1! I ran another report, but this time for most checked out in 1 year. Braumaru was #4. Not bad for a book that has only been published about 8 months!

Then I got home, and waiting for me was a rejection letter from a contest I had entered Braumaru. Not only had I not won, but the reviewer thought that the book was too complicated for kids in Middle School, so they would become frustrated and not finish it.

Listen, I know that not everyone who reads my books are going to like them. This is a fact. I can live with it. I expect it.

But I would much prefer for the reviewer to state that s/he did not like my book rather than say that the middle school/young adult crowd are not smart enough to understand my books. That they would not be able to follow the storyline.

It makes me wonder if the reviewer actually reads fiction written for this age group. Does s/he not understand that books that have been dumbed down are quite often mundane and boring? Is it possible that s/he is not aware that the young mind is perfectly capable of handling and detangling complicated plots? Could it be that s/he does not know that a book that challenges while it entertains is a powerful encouragement to continued reading? Books need to be fun!

I am a mother, a librarian, and a writer.

As a mother, I've watched the reaction my children have had to various stimuli. And after watching, I made a conscious decision to be involved in what they were exposed to. Yes, I will admit it. I made careful selections (aka censoring) of my children's computer use, television viewing, and book choices. But my choices were never to dumb things down, only to keep out the inappropriate.

As a librarian, my job is to choose reading material that will encourage the love of reading and learning. I spend hours every day evaluating books to that end. What age group do I evaluate for you ask? Kindergarten through 12th grade. And to do this I ask a lot of questions of the kids, about what they like in a book, what keeps their interest, what makes them think!

As the writer of the Behold the Eye trilogy my goal was to write a story that I, as an adult, would enjoy reading, and that I could read aloud to my child.

Which is why I know some people will not like my books. The Behold the Eye trilogy has no vulgarity, no vampires, and no scenes that would make a person blush.

They are complex, interesting, and fun!

Labels: Behold the Eye, Braumaru, Cerulea, family, history, librarian, life, publishing, Viridia, world, writing

Yesterday was the last day of school, and I received one of the nicest compliments that a librarian can get. A mom told me she was so glad that I was their librarian, because I was so hip.

Why is this such high praise?

A moment of thought about that tired old stereotype of the cranky librarian wearing boring clothes, boring glasses, and a boring bun in her hair should make it perfectly obvious why I think it praise.

I mean, doesn't everyone like to hear that they are not boring? And if I'm not boring, doesn't that mean that I have a better chance of reaching the kids, and really teaching them?

Yes, it made my day!

And no, I don't try to be hip. I'm actually rather strict.

Labels: librarian