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Librarian Writers, Part Deux

The response to my earlier post about librarian writers was fascinating. I’m trying to probe what it is we feel we need. I’m tossing out the following to see what resonates with you (and I’ll create a new post on my blog, since many but not all of the respondents are already on NMRTWRITER):

* A blog to post successes/questions/failures/whatevers

* A discussion list oriented toward published writers

* An informal organization for librarians who write

* An entity not necessarily related to ALA (no offense there to ALA)

* A casual community of published writers

What needs are we trying to fulfill? I think they exist, but pinning them down may be another issue. I sense needs for writers who are already writing–something low-overhead (presumably, we’re all busy writing), but a community to tap when you are struggling with questions such as is this contract o.k., should you try writing outside the library press, how do you market my book, how can you get past writer’s block, where can you find an indexer/editor/illustrator, how do you get over a bad review, how do you organize time for writing, how to break into a new writing area, what kind of experience did you have with X editor or Y press, or even writerly questions about the mechanics of style, grammar, and punctuation. Not to mention the inevitable get-together at library conferences, or even very occasional chats by AIM or other low-cost means.

… Or even just to be able to list on your c.v., “Founding Member, writerlibrarians.org…”

I’ll add that I was surprised to hear that NMRTWRITER existed, and that it is under the aegis of NMRT was even more surprising. Sometimes I am asked why I am not on such-and-such list, and I usually say, “because I have a life.” But I would have been on NMRTWRITER a long time ago if I had known it existed. That said, without a Web presence or easily-accessed archive, I don’t know if NMRTWRITER is more than ephemerally useful to us.

Thoughts?

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This was written by K.G. Schneider. Posted on Saturday, April 24, 2004, at 11:11 am. Filed under Librarianship, Writing. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.