I’ve been blogging every month at ALA Techsource for two years, and have decided it’s time to move on. Here’s my last post.
It was a good run and I look forward to seeing where it goes (just as I was pleased to see Joe Janes step in as the Internet Librarian, a column I started and wrote for seven years).
I feel a little scared, in a way, because I stopped writing for Techsource in order to give myself time for other writing — both other types of technology writing (feature articles, writing outside of LibraryLand) and literary writing. Techsource was fun, but I need to push myself — and to be pushed by other forces.
One of those forces may be about exploring other genres. I had always thought I didn’t have to write fiction because when I come up with ideas for stories they are always bits of scene, sometimes just brief gestures, and I assumed real fiction writers were driven by Plots and Narrative and Aristotelian Unity.
For a couple of months I’ve been haunted by two images: a woman sitting down in a pew after making an announcement at church, and a minister slipping on a mess of beans spilled on the floor. But I just assumed it would pass.
But two nights ago I finally picked up Stephen King’s On Writing, and he blew that excuse to bits. He poses”what ifs” and scenes and images; writing for him (as it is for many of us) seems like a game, a marvelous puzzle, a personal challenge.
On to the next personal challenge. On to the game.
Posted on this day, other years:
- California: Third Time's the Charm! - 2009
- Veterans for Obama, and a small-town mayor speaks out - 2008
- Thinking Towards Johannesburg - 2006
- Being Jenny Levine - 2005
- Launch Date - 2005
- Virtual Reference: Still Looking for the Answers - 2004
- Thoughts About "E-Membership" on ALA Committees - 2004
Cool – waiting to see what other amazing writing stems from your hand!
Oh – and songwriting works that way, too. I get lots of one-liners, short rhythms, and 5-second melodies running through my head (that unfortunately don’t go away until I have butchered them to death). So I understand the madness 🙂 !
Congratulations, Karen.
I reviewed King’s book for the “Adult Books for High School Students” column in School Library Journal when it came out. I loved how it managed to be inspiring without being (like so many “inspirational writing books” corny. It spurred me on, too.
David, you do cool things with your madness! 🙂
Karen, I am slow and late coming to read libraryland blogs these days since I stepped out, either permanently or for a bit so I have just read your farewell Techsource post. Really enjoyed it, with that sort of elegaic “set a fire under your butt” tone.
[…] I’ve left a job because it wasn’t a good fit and stopped writing for a publication to pursue other interests. Yet after reading Walt Crawford’s post about honesty, I feel it oddly necessary to say, no, […]
I reviewed King’s book for the “Adult Books for High School Students†column in School Library Journal when it came out. I loved how it managed to be inspiring without being (like so many “inspirational writing books†corny. It spurred me on, too.
Oh – and songwriting works that way, too. I get lots of one-liners, short rhythms, and 5-second melodies running through my head (that unfortunately don’t go away until I have butchered them to death). So I understand the madness 🙂 !
Darlehen, thanks — it ended up that a stray comment from a friend about foie gras has spurred me to not one but two essays in progress. Amazing how that works, isn’t it?