NaNoWriMo

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November brings lots of things – cooler weather, Thanksgiving, pumpkin everything, my birthday…

It’s also National Novel Writing Month.

The event has a special place in my heart. It’s during NaNoWriMo that I finished the first draft of TNWSY. It’s because I was deliriously committed to finishing those 50,000 words in time that I pushed myself further than I’ve ever gone and completed a book.

And since then I’ve completed two more manuscripts. I go into each story knowing I’ll finish them now, not wondering if the last page will ever be dreamed about. I thank my competitiveness. My intense drive. My need to write. But mostly, I thank NaNo.

So with October 10 days gone, I’m approaching November with wonder and excitement. Will I compete again? I’m not sure. I’m in the middle of editing, and that’s more important to me at the moment.

But should any other writer do it? Absolutely. Because it forces you to write and not look back. It forces you to put your fingers to the keyboard and type without correcting spelling and grammatical errors. It lets you add parts that say “make this scene more interesting,” and continuing on to the next scene. Really, it forces you to write and believe in yourself. Because once you finish that first manuscript, truly, it feels like anything is possible.

And isn’t that the whole point of writing?

Who’s done NaNoWriMo before? Who’s doing it this year? 

Banned Books Week

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(UPDATE: The images should be working again. Feel free to use them at your library! I’d love to know if you do! I also removed the dates so you can use them every year.)

Not surprisingly, I’m celebrating Banned Books Week at the library. As it happens, most of my favorite books have been banned at one time or another, so of course I want to publicize this week. Because I believe people should read anything they want to read. Sometimes the more “questionable” materials help us in ways we never expected.

Here are bookmarks I made for the library:

bannedbookmarks1-page-001 bannedbookmarks1-page-002

If you’re a librarian, feel free to use them at your library if you’d like. If you’re a parent, please don’t think Junie B Jones is bad. Please.

One Year Anniversary

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So, September 24th was my one year anniversary of being married to S. I started writing little posts leading up to the date, and that allowed me to reminisce a bit. (And I LOVE to reminisce.) But, go figure, on the actual day I didn’t write a thing. Not one single post.

I guess I was too busy being happy.

Anyway, we survived a year, and that’s excellent. Here’s to another year, and another anniversary post that’ll be a few days late.

(I’m bad at embedding videos, so if you’re interested, here’s a link to our wedding highlight reel.)

The Reality in Reality TV

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I’ll admit it – I don’t watch reality TV. When I do watch TV, it’s scripted dramas like Mad Men and The Newsroom or teenage melodramas like Glee and Gossip Girl (I WILL make it to the end of the latter, even if its best days are over!) or comedies both S and I find funny like SNL and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. That’s it. But if i’m alone, and mindlessly cleaning or putting my laundry away…I’ll drop by E! and see how the Kardashians are doing (because, let’s be honest, they’re always on).

For some reason, I find that family absolutely fascinating. To want to have everything documented. To basically create a life for TV. Of course the show isn’t extremely interesting, and most of the drama is self-provoked, but still. I’ll watch it every now and then. And I can see why it’s easy for younger girls to look up to them. They’re famous! They’re rich! They have hair Helen of Troy would envy! And I see why people mock them because, aside from owning a clothing store and Sears clothing line and occasionally modeling, they don’t do much.

But what I find really fascinating is when the magic of TV can’t fix everything. When the “reality” in “reality television” comes into play.

The season finale juxtaposed the birth of Kourtney’s second child, daughter Penelope, with Khloe’s inability to conceive a child. If this was a normal TV show, there would be an epilogue where Khloe pulls out a positive pregnancy test and everyone would cheer. But it isn’t. Something like that can’t be scripted. So the show ends with her on fertility treatments, and the blind hope that they’ll work. And still, today, she’s without a child.

And that’s what I find so incredibly fascinating. That even though you’re privileged, some things still can’t be changed. That wealth and celebrity and perfect hair can’t provide everything. That sometimes there is a sad ending, and producers can’t change that.

And I think it reminds me that celebrities sometimes have problems that aren’t self-inflicted. That there are things that are harder to overcome. That, okay, in a way, they are still kind of like us. And I hope the young girls who look up to them should remember that.

I hope Khloe uses her situation to be more. I hope she’s a real face women can see; someone who’s going through a problem that they might be facing as well. And, yes, I hope she gets her baby in the end.

Life, The Universe, and Nerdfighters

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Permit me to be sappy for a second.

The above video was taken last weekend. After planning it for quite a few months, my Nerdfighter Library Meetup* happened, and it couldn’t have gone better. Twenty-one awesome people showed up, 17 of which were teens (which is a very high teen count for our library. Very high.) Everyone was so nice, and so excited. We were all unified by one common interest, and it showed. And, really, by the end, I couldn’t have been happier.

That is, until one of the teens posted the above video and I kind of teared up. Because, you guys, this is my life.

At 28, I’ve had three different careers. Not jobs, careers. I was a high school English teacher. (I quite\ after a year because it was just so hard. I loved some of my students, and I would have continued for them, but there’s just so much pressure, and honestly, I was only 23 at the time. And I sucked at discipline.) I was a copyrighter/magazine editor. (Fine jobs, but I never wanted to write for myself when I was writing all day. I started hating writing because it was forced and assigned, not creative and fun.) And now I’m a librarian. (And, yeah, still a writer, too.) I was so scared to start library school because even though it sounded amazing…what if I didn’t like it? What if it was just another failed career move? I went into the degree knowing I wanted to work with teens again, and I left confident.

And now, a year and a month after I graduated, I have that job. I’m a public librarian working with teens. And for the first time in my career, I can honestly say I love my job. I know how rare it is to hear that. I know how lucky I am. And don’t think it’s all cotton candy and unicorns and happy soundtracks. There are bad days. There are bad patrons. But I get over them because I know there’s also so much more.

There’s a little boy who called me his favorite librarian after I recommended a book he ended up liking. There’s a little girl who visits me weekly, just to say hi. There’s a teen who asked for relationship advice, and other who asked for career/college advice. There are the moments I know I’ve made someone’s day better just by having the one thing they were looking for in stock. And there are teens who make videos of my events and post them to YouTube because they genuinely had a good time.

This is my job. I honestly couldn’t ask for me.

*For librarians interested, I’ll post more on planning this meetup later.