This Is What Librarians Do

I've talked before about being a librarian, and how misunderstood the job is. No, we don't sit around and read all day. And I want to say right now that I've never shushed anyone. Being a librarian is a pretty unique job because it's like retail, stocking shelves and being a data analyst all at the same time.

Oh, and some of us are pretty muscular too, because being a librarian sometimes requires heavy lifting.

What? Yeah, it's true.

This past spring and summer I undertook one of the hardest tasks of my life - and yes, I count being published in that estimation. I reconfigured a K-4 library all by myself. It took over 200 hours, some of them unpaid. And I'm not posting about this so you'll tell me how awesome I am - I guarantee you there are many librarians that have done - and would do - exactly this many times over.

Without going into the sad, sad business of public school funding too far, I'll simply say that because of money issues our district lost the full time library position in the elementary building two years ago. The lady whose job this had formerly been was still in the library when classes were in there, but that was the only time. The solution to actually maintaining the library - shelving in particular - was to have high school students do it.

I know anyone reading this who is a librarian is probably cringing right now.

Cringe harder.

At the end of one year of having teenagers manage the shelving the elementary library looked like this.

 I'm guessing I don't need to tell you that Dewey had pretty much gone out the window.

The district librarian and I are located in a different building, so when I went over to this library to do my end of the year report, I ended up saying some very bad words. I said them alone, because that's the proper thing to do, but I said them loudly. 

And then I proceeded to fix it.

First - discarding. This library hadn't been properly weeded in years. I ended up getting rid of about 3000 books that were beyond salvaging. Torn books, books whose spines were completely broken, and some books that were actually growing mold. Don't worry - these weren't dumpster fodder. These 3000 books went home with the children who picked them off the free book table. Even if they only had one more read left in them, they got the chance to prove it.

Second - re-cataloging. Hundreds of books were quite simply, nowhere near the places they needed to be. For example Attack of the Alien Fire Ants was in non-fiction. No idea what happened there.

Third - genre labeling. As many picture books as possible were put into categories - dinosaurs, dogs, holidays, etc - so that the little kids could actually find books that interested them, rather than rummaging through a colossal mess and hoping they hit something good in their allotted library time.

Fourth - putting all that crap back. Yep. This place was such a wreck that the best solution was to empty every single shelf and start from scratch. Obviously this was done one section at a time, but I made a HUGE mess before things got better. 

And lastly - I showed administration these pictures and explained that a library needs to be maintained, not just manned. And they listened. Even though we don't have a librarian in that building full time, we do have a staff member assigned there specifically for shelving and item maintenance, and teachers are handling the checkout process for their own classes -- which is a lot easier now that they can find books on their own. Ahem.

A lot of people have no idea the amount of work that librarians put in on a daily basis just because we want to make sure that people (especially kids) have the books that they want in their hands when they walk out the door.

During the summer when I was working the a/c in this building was turned off. So I'd spend hours covered in sweat and filth, come home sore from moving so many pounds of books around, and still have someone say to me at a party, "Shhhh!!!" when I told them I was a librarian.

And I'm like, "You know what? I think I'm going to punch you in the face."

Dark Days Recap!

I had an amazing time on my debut week as I toured the Southwest with Michelle Gagnon (DON'T LOOK NOW), Rae Carson (THE BITTER KINGDOM), Sherry Thomas (THE BURNING SKY) and Madeleine Roux (ASYLUM). Honestly if more fun would have been had, bail money would've been involved.

Because I live in the middle of nowhere, I had to start my travels by traveling. On the way to the airport hotel for a night of sleeping before flying, I stopped by the local Barnes & Noble to see my book "in the wild," as we say. One of my oldest friends met me there, and we showed off our mutual babies - (hers real, mine a book baby).

I think me stuffing a book up my shirt is what drew the attention of the sales clerk, but when I established that I'm allowed to rub NOT A DROP TO DRINK on my navel because I'm it's book mommy she was cool with it. And then I signed stock, which was pretty darn fun.

An obscenely early hour found me on the way to the airport to fly to our first stop - Las Vegas! I sat next to a very nice lady on the plane who was shocked that I'd been writing for ten years, since I "look like I'm twelve." I wasn't sure on the compliment rank on that one, but I still appreciated the sentiment.

Rae Carson and I arrived in Las Vegas with head colds from hell, but it didn't seem to bother the Vegas folk, mostly because none of them were awake at that hour. We ended up in fancy-pants hotel and I think the front desk must have noticed our virus level because they put is in a tower that was... pretty empty. Nothing as surreal as walking through a vacant 5 star hotel.

I told Rae they obviously built it just for us.

She agreed.

Maddie, Sherry and Michelle all arrived as Vegas started to awaken and we bustled off to our first signing at a Barnes & Noble. The bookstore owner had made mini-chocolates with the Dark Days logo and our covers, so Maddie and I decided that obviously those should not be left to their own devices post-signing, and filled our purses.

I'm really not sure why I thought having 30 mini-chocolates in my purse was a good idea. I bet the people manning the X-ray machines at the various airports we trundled through were curious as well.

We spent the night in Vegas and hopped over to Denver, where we signed at The Tattered Cover - a fantastic indie that I would like to go live in. Some of my in real life friends popped up there, including 2014 debut author Tara Dairman, and a couple of gals that I wish I lived nearer to!

You can spot round silver signed-by-the-author labels in this photo from The Tattered Cover. Sherry Thomas made personalized sheets of those for every one of the Dark Days girls. Mine has a vicious looking drop of water on it - go figure.

The next day was rather insane - we woke up in Denver and flew to Houston where we had hotel rooms reserved simply for us to pee in, as we would be flying back OUT to Austin after our book signing at Blue Willow Books. I've never peed in a nicer setting.

Before leaving Denver we decided we should re-enact the opening of Reservoir Dogs, as one does.

We shot out of Blue Willow and headed straight for the airport to catch a midnight flight to Austin to get ready for Austin Teen Book Festival! In our first appearance we went head to head with the Fierce Reads girls (Marissa Meyer, Leila Sales, Alexandra Coutts and SA Bodeen), much to the enjoyment of the crowd. I think the kids got a kick out of it, and I have to add that Rae and I kickass at her making me guess what's behind me on a screen.

Also usually they only let professionals into the green room, but exceptions were allowed in our case.

Shortly thereafter we had our second panel, (moderated by REBOOT author Amy Tintera), where we answered questions about writing and our books. Also, I sang a Weird Al song, Maddie talked about sacrificing lambs, Sherry shared Costco shopping secrets, Rae mentioned magical naval bling and Michelle casually clued us in to the fact that she used to dance in a Russian club.

Yes, we're that kind of fun.

Then we signed and great fun was had by all. In fact, a bit too much fun as the festival ran about forty minutes over allotted time and we were all kicked out by security. Except for Sherry Thomas who literally hid behind her stack of books and kept signing.

It was an amazing time. I had a TON of fun. In case you can't tell from the videos, we got along pretty well.

Interview with Romily Bernard

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest for the SAT (Successful Author Talk) is Romily Bernard, debut author of FIND ME and fellow Harper sister. Romily graduated from Georgia State University with a literature degree. Since then, she's worked as a riding instructor, cell-phone salesperson, personal assistant, horse groomer and exercise rider, accounting assistant, and, during a very dark time, customer service representative. . . . She's also, of course, now a YA novelist.

So don't let anyone tell you a BA degree will keep you unemployed.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

Ugh. A Pantster. I wish I weren’t. I have a lot of writer friends who talk about flow charts and outlining and character mapping and I…don’t do any of that. I wrote FIND ME, my YA thriller, with one question in my mind the whole way: “How can I ruin this?”
Oh, does Wick think she’s safe? How can I ruin it?
Oh, is the home life thing working out? How can I ruin that?
And then I would do it and we won’t reflect on what this says about me as a person.

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

I wrote FIND ME in about nine months then, after I was agented, we spent another four months re-writing it twice before Sarah pitched it at the Bologna Book Fair. I wish I had something witty to say about the process, but mine wasn’t exactly magical. It was work—a lot of nights, weekends, and staff meetings where I was supposed to be taking notes on new projects, but was actually coming up with places to hide bodies.

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi tasker?

Multi-tasker…sort of. FIND ME’s sequel, REMEMBER ME, is with my editors right now so I’m working on a spin-off standalone. Once RM comes back, I’ll devote all my time to the rewrites, but having a project to work on during the downtime keeps me from pacing and petting the walls.

Did you have to overcome any fears that first time you sat down to write?

Not really. I wrote my first book when I was seven and had been messing around with writing ever since—now getting the guts to actually acknowledge I wanted writing to be my career…yeah, that took work.

How many trunked books (if any) did you have before you were agented?

I wrote four novels before signing with Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary. I couldn’t find where my writing voice fit until I tried my hand at YA and something just clicked. Suddenly, my heroines weren’t spiteful. They were spunky. And I knew I had finally found my people.

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

I’m too pigheaded to quit while writing something. I will finish a ms if it kills me and, often, it feels like it will. As far as quitting during querying, it’s usually somewhere around the 50-60 agent rejection mark. By that time, I generally had another project ready to go out so I would swap my queries around and start again.

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them?  

Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary—also known in my Tweets as Wonder Agent. She found me in her slush pile! Ahem. I’m rather proud of that.

How long did you query before landing your agent? 

How about how many rejections I have? Because, honestly, I think I’m still waiting on responses for my women’s fiction. I wrote four novels before FIND ME and I scored 246 rejection letters from agents and editors. I could wallpaper my bathroom with them—probably yours too.

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

It’s a numbers game. I would blitz 10-20 agents at a time. If one rejection comes in, another query has to go out. Every time. No matter if you’re sobbing, shaking, or convinced you have lost your mind for wanting to do this. I kept track of mine with an Excel spreadsheet. It’s available for download on my website if anyone wants it.

How much input do you have on cover art?

Absolutely none and I’m fine with that. I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, but my cover artist, Joel Tippie, is gifted beyond belief.

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

For an industry that trades in dreams, publishing is all about product. That sounds heartless, but it’s not. Sometimes, we have to make hard decisions about what’s right for the book, but also what’s right for the market. Scary? Yes. But you have to trust the people you surround yourself with. I researched publishers the same way I researched agents so, when I accepted Harper-Collins’ offer, I knew what caliber of professional I was getting. The trick? I have to get out of the way and let them do their job.

How much of your own marketing do you?  

I enjoy blogging and I love Twitter. Would really like to start vlogging too. Oh! I recently discovered Pinterest, which has been super fun for putting up character pics and random techie articles.

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

I didn’t start my online presence until after I sold. I had a website and blogged a bit, but nothing big. I concentrated almost entirely on my manuscripts. Not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it worked for me. Of course, I’m also one of the few authors who didn’t really consider people were going to read my work until after I sold. Yeah, I know. I missed the Clue Bus entirely. When readers tell me, “Oh, I read FIND ME!” I’m always like, “For reals?” And then I want to hug them because I am so flipping grateful.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

It seems like it’s working for me. I interact with a number of book bloggers on Twitter and they’re an amazing bunch. They love to talk about books and I love to talk about books so we can natter on for hours about Rainbow Rowell, Jay Asher, John Green, Courtney Summers, Megan Shepherd…you get the point.