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| My view from the publishers table, October 7, 2017 |
This last weekend Sleeping Panther Press held its last
launch of the year, Heath Dollar’s Waylon County: Texas Stories. It was quite
the party. I’m glad I don’t have to do any more launches for a few months. Prepping
for them, then pulling them off wear me out. Now the process of marketing the
books published over the last year so that money is actually made back! That
starts this coming weekend with the Fort Worth BookFest, which is a new book
festival right in Downtown Fort Worth.
I’ve been worried lately that my ability to write has
gone away since I hadn’t made time for it in the past… year. This fear has made
me anxious about sitting down to start. This anxiety has gotten stronger as I’ve
racked my brain to decide exactly what I should start writing about. When I get
my butt in the seat, I still draw a blank. This isn’t unusual, though,
considering how focused I’ve been getting Sleeping Panther Press started and
keeping the momentum going on my librarian job.
Luckily, yesterday during my lunch duty at the
circulation desk, I started writing. It was just about what was going on in the
library at the moment. This would absolutely appall most people, but is the everyday
life of a modern high school library: kids eating lunch at the tables, browsing
the shelves, working on homework off their laptops, printing off massive pages
of work (yep, despite the fact they have laptops, they still have to print).
When I saved the document at the end of the day, I found the folder with all of
my writings- mostly frustrations- from my other library school experience, and
it came to me-- I should write a book based on my time spent in a modern high
school library! I’m not sure if I should just base it on what has happened, or
if I should make it a memoir, but it would be the easiest
This was quite the revelation to me. I had always toyed
with the idea of writing a book about my experiences, but I thought it would
probably be after I retired so I wouldn’t have to face other educators who may
possibly see themselves in the book. Of course, I reminded myself of my
favorite quote from Anne Lamott, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell
your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should’ve
behaved better.” Yes. They should have.
Once I got home from work and went on a walk with mom, I
had a solid idea about what I wanted to do with it. She had a few ideas as
well, which include my teaching experiences, making it about my entire career
as a reluctant educator. That may actually end up being the title, “The
Reluctant Educator.”
So, that is what I’m going to start working on. The
outline will begin today, as soon as I finish editing and posting this update. It
is exciting to get the writing tingles in my fingertips. I can’t wait to get to
it!