librarianship =

So, yesterday was #followalibrarian day on twitter where you could say which librarians you *heart* following. The goal (I think) was to find more librarians. I offered some of my favorite peeps and found a few new ones. Roy Tennant was among those. First, I found his twitter profile and then I found his blog (ah, serendipity). Apparently he only updates it twice a year, but his current entry caught me off-guard. He writes on writing and the courage to write. While at times the writing on the “Intertubes” is  cringe worthy, I have to admit that this cynical Gen-Xer found his blog entry, shall we say, inspiring (such a rare occurrence).

I love to write, but I’m a perfectionist who won’t put my words out there unless they are, well, perfect. But this next year I must write a lot… A LOT. I’m not kidding. My library can’t offer funding for travel, so  we are being told that writing might be a good idea. I’ve been lucky in finding opportunities and generating ideas: I have a book due in less than a year and three articles and a chapter proposal all in the works. I may have been too lucky!

To support each other we even have a writing circle initiated after reading How to Write a Lot by Paul Silvia, a prof at our university. You can read my short review of it. One of his arguments–that writing is a craft that must be practiced–is one that I’ve definitely taken to heart. Combined with Roy Tennant’s “Just do it” call to arms, I’ve returned to this blog to give a second chance. My goal is to reflect on my time as a new librarian and maybe use this as a platform for other writing projects. My hope is that someone will read some of the entries, reflect back, and start a dialogue. If I can’t travel much to get inspiration, maybe these pages will serve that function.

But maybe they won’t. If not, at least I will follow the words of wisdom from Roy and Paul and just write. Even if only for myself.