The Librarian Writer

The big day is tomorrow! Yeah, yeah, there's some kind of shindig going on at Westminster Abbey, but I'm talking about the screening of Royal Wedding at the TCM Classic Film Festival . Royal Wedding is a little gem, often overlooked as one Fred Astaire's best movies. Directed by Stanley Donen, the 1951 film stars Fred and Jane Powell as a brother/sister dancing team going to London for the royal nuptials of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Of course there's romance and hijinks and plenty of dancing. One of the highlights of the film is the sequence where Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling. It is flat-out awesome and a remarkable achievement of choreography, filmmaking, and ingenuity. See for yourself: Once you've picked your jaw up off the floor, you may want to know how that was done. A revolving room was created and a camera mounted to follow the room. Someone on YouTube was kind enough to deconstruct the scene. Even though Fred Astaire makes eve...

Sometimes you reach that point in your story when you want to hit your head against a brick wall. Repeatedly. The flow is gone. The characters are flat. The dialog limps along. Or your beautifully structured outline crumbles like graham crackers. Don't your characters know they're supposed DO THIS, NOT THAT?!? Or you've got too many ideas and don't know which one to write. Or you've got no ideas, at least nothing that has that spark, that makes you want to write. Whatever the situation, writer's block is that point when a writer stops. Sometimes that's a good thing. Taking a break away from a project can let the ideas percolate and that moment will come (usually while in the shower, or driving, or doing dishes) when you can't wait to go back the story because now you know what to do. But others let writer's block be an excuse for not writing. At all. And there is no excuse for this. Because writer's block does not exist. Writer's block is mer...

In honor of National Library Week, I thought I'd post some of my favorite library related videos. Cookie Monster in the library : Old Spice parody in the library : Mr. Bean in the library : Library Girl music video : Ghostbusters parody in the library : Erik the Librarian : Grover in the library : Please share some of your favorite library videos!

The motif for March was fierce redheads who find themselves leaving the world they knew behind for something not only completely different, but downright scary. The first redhead was Amy in Across the Universe by Beth Revis, reviewed here . The second redhead was Ellie in Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton, reviewed here . I don't know what it is about redheads, but apparently there's something in their genes that gives them extra kick-ass-itude. (Yes, I just made up that word.) The thing I loved about both Amy and Ellie is the fact that they're not afraid to be afraid. They react to incredible obstacles like a normal human would. They cry. They run. They hide. But then they overcome their fears to take a stand against big, scary obstacle. Even if they think they may fail. Even if they think they may die. That's kick-ass-itude (Can I get that trademarked?) . So March was a good reading month. Now I'm reading Bumped by Megan McCafferty, which I'm enjoying...

Title: Angelfire Author: Courtney Allison Moulton Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Publication Date: February 15, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-0062002327 464 pp. ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley I was comic book nerd when I was growing up. I read DC Comics (sorry, Marvel) and my favorite was Wonder Woman. She was one of the few strong female role models when I was growing up, which was before Buffy Summers slayed her first vamp. I bring this up for my review of Angelfire because Charles Moulton created Wonder Woman. Charles Moulton was the pen name of William Moulton Marston and I doubt he's related to Courtney, but I think he would have appreciated that another Moulton created Ellie, the heroine of Angelfire . Courtney Allison Moulton does a lot to keep the girl power tradition alive with Angelfire . Ellie is the girl-hero in the book, and yes, she does owe at least a passing nod to Buffy. Ellie has good friends and typical high school problems when she finds out...

Twitter has sort of taken over my life. Oh, my neglected farm. And the jewels that go unblitzed. Instead of playing Facebook games, I find myself spending that time on Twitter (and my husband would say more and more time on Twitter.) Twitter, at its essence, is a way to communicate news and information quickly and widely. Whether that news is about Charlie Sheen's latest meltdown or an actual meltdown in Japan depends on who you follow. I tend to follow writers and agents and people I like. And they have fantastic things to say about writing and publishing and things I like. I avoided the "Favorites" button on Twitter for a long time because I didn't know exactly what purpose it served. But after awhile, I realized that it let me save a tweet that linked to a great article or great quote that I'd want to refer back to and wouldn't get swallowed up in the feed. For those of you who haven't joined the Twitter bandwagon yet and wonder what all the hoopla is ...

Title: Across the Universe Author: Beth Revis Publisher: Razorbill Publication Date: January 11, 2011 ISBN-13: 9781595143976 398pp. Reading copy from local library Finally catching up with my January selection for the Debut Author Challenge, which is Across the Universe by Beth Revis . This book has gotten a lot of well-deserved buzz, including being chosen as one of Amazon's Best Books of January 2011 and a starred review from Kirkus . And I'm going to add my fangirl squee to all the rest of the rave reviews. Before I explain why I loved, loved, loved this book, here's what the book is about. Amy's parents are essential for a colonization mission to a new planet. Amy is not. But she chooses to leave her friends, her boyfriend, her life on Earth to be with them. Even though that means she'll be frozen for 300 years while the spaceship travels to the new world. Except there's one problem. Amy gets unfrozen 50 years too early. Was it a mistak...