Tuesday, June 22, 2010

My name is Karen and I'm a library-aholic

Right now, I'm having a hard time working my way through my writing. I would rather write something short and funny than keep my behind in the chair long enough to finish my books. A huge obstacle this summer is that my daughter is volunteering to sign up kids in the reading program at our nearest library. That means I have to run her there and pick her up, so I am around the library almost every day. And libraries, in case you aren't getting this, are full of books. Other people's books. Some of the writing is not so good, but there is so much good stuff that it's hard to walk away with just my daughter and her books. I have to pick up a couple more every time I'm in. I think I've read a dozen books in the last week, and at least one of them wasn't worth reading, and another couple were marginal. The rest were actually good books. Joanne Dobson's latest with her Professor Karen Pelletier, Death Without Tenure, was a book I'd been pining to read.

Now that I've read all these books, I think I need to contribute to the library system. I will finish my own books and hope they are added to the shelves and that others will find them better than marginal. As we have said in our critique group, "Friends don't let friends write mediocre books." God willing, mine will make it through the gauntlet to bookshelves in homes and libraries across the country. I just have to keep my bottom in the chair.

2 comments:

  1. If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write.
    - Stephen King

    Which is true, so don't punish yourself too much, just get your butt back in the chair between books.

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  2. I love the libraries and can never walk away empty-handed, esp., when there's a book sale. Enjoy the lazy summer reading days, then when you're ready, buckle down and finish that book. I'll be ordering it from HK.

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