The Librarian Writer

Well, I blinked and now 2013 is almost over. It's been a pretty good year. The screenplay I wrote was shot and is in post-production. There were many times this project almost died, so that was a huge victory. I'm making a major revision in my novel before I send it out to another round of agents. Libraryland was pretty good to me with record numbers for summer reading. And I was able to pull off some crazy fun programs, too. There were some excellent books and audiobooks that I enjoyed this year and I hope that you enjoyed my reviews of them. I also hope that 2013 was a good year for you. I know there are times when life just sucks, and I try to remember to enjoy the moments that don't. I worry too much about things that ultimately don't matter, and I'm trying to appreciate the things in my life that do matter. So here's to 2014: may it be a year without too many life-sucking moments!

Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  I appreciate everyone who stops by this blog and I hope all of you have love, warmth, and laughter to share with others. And I'd like to share this with you: Lil BUB's Yule Log:

Title: Bubble World Author: Carol Snow Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Publication Date: July 30, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0805095715 352 pp. ARC provided by publisher You may be bundled up the layers as you sit by the fireside and sip on hot cocoa, but if you want to escape to somewhere sunny, Bubble World by Carol Snow is a perfect beach read. Escape is a key word here, as Bubble World isn't an actual place, but a virtual world where Freesia lives as she goes to parties and shops with her best friend. Except that Freesia doesn't realize that Bubble World is a virtual world. Not at first, anyway. As the Bubble World is burst, Freesia is brought back to a reality that is considerably less "de-vicious" that the one she left. (Warning: A lot of Bubble World slang is introduced in the opening chapters. I thought it helped with the world-building, but your mileage may vary.) Bubble World is a funny book with big ideas about identity, how we perceive ourselv...

Title: Dare You To Author: Katie McGarry Publisher: Harlequin Teen Publication Date: May 28, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0373210633 480 pp. ARC provided by publisher Dare You To by Katie McGarry is the second of her contemporary romance trilogy following a group of friends. I haven't read Pushing the Limits , which has gotten a lot of positive reviews and was a Teens' Top Ten for 2013. While the two stories are linked by crossover characters, you don't need to read one to enjoy the other. And I did thoroughly enjoy Dare You To . It's the kind of swoony romance that keeps itself grounded in reality. In Beth's case, her reality is a gritty, bleak one, with a mom who's a barfly and probably worse, but Beth doesn't let herself think about. She's just trying to get through the day, making sure the bills are paid and her mother eats. Then she meets Ryan at a late night taco joint. Ryan seems to fit the total jock stereotype, good-looking, full of h...

Yeah, so I didn't "win" NaNoWriMo this year. I didn't write 50,000 words in 30 days. But ... Around the middle of November (at about 20,000 words), I realized that my historical fiction needed more research before I could effectively do any more writing. I knew some stuff about the time and people I was writing about, but not enough of the right stuff. I could have bullshit my way through 30,000 more words, but would be the point of that? That would mean so much more work rewriting later on. So thanks, NaNoWriMo, for getting me started, but I spent the rest of the month doing research. And I'm a nerd, so doing research is fun. I still highly recommend NaNoWriMo for people who need a kick in the pants to start or finish a project. Maybe next year I'll use NaNoWriMo to finish this novel. Stay tuned ...

It's been a few years, but I'm giving NaNoWriMo another go. I've participated twice in the past and finished once. I'm hoping to go the distance on NaNo #3. What I like about NaNoWriMo is the quick and dirty deadline that's randomly imposed. 50,000 words. 30 days. That's it. You either do it or you don't. And even if I don't, I've started. And that's HUGE. I'm working on a historical fiction I've been thinking about for years. I've previously envisioned it as a play and a screenplay. I've done a fair amount of research. I even outlined it as a screenplay. But I've never started it. On November 1, I finally did. And this is why I do NaNoWriMo. Even if I don't finish. I've started. And that's HUGE.

Title: Rose Under Fire Author: Elizabeth Wein Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Publication Date: September 10, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1423183099 368 pp. Reading copy from publisher via NetGalley Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein is a companion novel to Code Name Verity , which was recently named Number One of the Teens' Top Ten 2013 . Rose Under Fire is not a sequel to Code Name Verity . There are characters from Code Name Verity who make small but important appearances, but the novel really belongs to Rose Justice. Rose is an American teenager who transports planes for the British and gets captured by Nazis. She's sent to Ravensbruck, a women's concentration camp, where she meets the Polish Rabbits, a group of girls who were used for medical experiments. It's near the end of the war, but that makes everything just a little more desperate. When the enemy knows they're losing, how many can they take down with them? Rose Under Fire is a much more traditio...