Back to School

Photo: Beanworks via Morguefile

For the first year or so after I retired, I returned pretty frequently to the elementary school where I'd been a counselor. I went back about once every two weeks to assist with a writing group that the seminar teacher ran for talented writers. But after two years, changes in staffing and changes in my schedule coincided, and it's been a while since I've been inside any public school besides my daughter's.

But today, I get to visit a school again -- a middle school -- and I get to talk about one of my favorite topics: writing. I'm nervous and excited. It's not that I'm unused to standing up in front of a group of people -- I teach, after all -- but it's been a while since the students in my audience were younger than seventeen.

Then again, the age of the audience is only part of it. I'm always nervous and excited when I speak before a new group of people. I love speaking engagements, but they're different from teaching, and, when you enter a school building to talk to a group of kids of any age, finding the sweet spot between storytelling and teaching is always the challenge.

I'm bringing my books. Although the novels aren't meant for a middle school audience, I'm bringing them anyway because they, along with my nonfiction books, are evidence. Evidence that if you keep writing -- beyond the tests, beyond the required assignments, beyond the dull, dry research papers -- and zoom in on what you love to write about, books happen. It's hard, it's unpredictable and, for most of us, it's not a living. But it's worth it.

Photo: Click via Morguefile

Speaking of books, I'm doing another giveaway this week. Stay tuned for another post later today with details (and the announcement of last week's winners), or check out The Fussy Librarian on Twitter, as this one's in conjunction with @FussyLibrarian.

Meanwhile, wish me luck. I'm hoping to inspire, but, since it's a Monday morning with middle schoolers, I'll settle for feigned enthusiasm.

It's okay. I've got plenty of the actual kind to spare.

Wrapping and Reading

Photo from Magic 106.1 FM, Guelph, Canada
via Facebook

When my daughter was small, we started a book tradition at our house. I can't remember where I found the idea -- it might have been Family Fun magazine -- but I do seem to remember that it was just a front-of-book snippet by a parent. "Just" a snippet turned into a tradition that, at our house, lasted until my daughter was into her teens. And when a writer friend posted the photo at left on her Facebook page earlier this month, it had "Saturday Special" written all over it. As a bonus, it makes a marvelous extension to yesterday's post.

The process is a bit time consuming up front, but very simple. In November, gather all of your child's Christmas-themed books. Then, sometime before December 1, wrap each book individually. Beginning December 1, your child can open a book a day (or a book a week, or somewhere in between, depending upon the number of books you have available). Secretly purchasing new books I could add to the pile was fun, too, and less expensive than it would seem, as many old favorites endured for years.

My daughter loved coming downstairs each morning and opening a "new" book, and, as a bonus, it started each day with reading. Although mornings worked well for us, you could just as easily do this after dinner (or before dinner to procure some late afternoon peace and quiet), or at bedtime.

Once all of the books have been opened and the season has passed, gather them up again when you gather up the decorations and put them in a special box (labeled or unique so you can find them quickly in November). If you're feeling really industrious, you can wrap a few (or all of them) before you put them away, saving yourself some time at the outset, but choose carefully. You may find that your child deems some of this year's books too babyish next year.

Merry Christmas -- I've just given you an excuse to acquire more books. Then again, we authors do that.

Because there's no rule that says all the Christmas books have to be for your kids.

Thank you to Carole Brown, who posted this photo on her Facebook page, 

bringing back many lovely memories.

Friday Freebie: Gifting Books

Photo by George Hodan via publicdomainpictures.net

It occurred to me sometime last week that I really need to put Christmas shopping on my to-do list. It's not that I haven't started -- it's just that I haven't been to many -- okay any -- stores yet with the primary intention of doing specific Christmas shopping. I've taken advantage of Cyber Monday and picked up a few things here and there, but some things just require visits to the store.

Today's timely blog post by two of my author friends reminded me that Christmas shopping can be fun for me, too. Not only does the post talk about books and bargains, but it also talks about authors and writing. More than a few of my favorite things.

How about you? How's your Christmas shopping going? Let me know if you need a book for someone's stocking :-)

Saturday Special: Too Many Books, Too Little Space

Karen Arnold via freepik.com

I've loved reading since Dick and Jane ran with Spot. I don't remember my book collection overtaking my space when I was a kid, but then again, when I was in middle school, we moved to a house with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, giving me plenty of space for my Nancy Drew collection -- and then some.

In my lifetime, I've worked in three different bookstores, and I trace the origins of my "too many books, too little space" conundrum back to those jobs, which fed my inner book collector -- sometimes at the expense of my bank account.

Our house is a Cape Cod, so when I wanted to find resources about organizing books, I was excited to find posts on the Apartment Therapy site, where they specialize in fun ideas for small spaces. And, in a decision that matches my bookstore behavior, I couldn't decide, so I'm posting both.

The first is an article (with great pictures) that explores various ways to organize books, depending on your style (I had to grab that one!); the second, geared to a weekend project approach has videos. Both provide ideas and maybe even a little motivation for taking control of book overrun.

pixabay.com

While I'll be contributing to book overrun this weekend as I put the finishing touches on my novel, I'm looking forward to putting some of those ideas to work this winter, when I have more time to tackle my list of organizing to-dos.

Happy organizing! And, if you manage to make it through the process without getting sucked into a book you forgot you had, you're stronger than I am.