Well, I've done it again. I've managed to not write a single word all week until the last minute. In my defense, life has been a bit crazy. But, I promise I will, at some point in the very near future, get back to the regularly scheduled programming my two adoring readers love so much.
I'm sure by now you've started to wonder what is making Librarian in the Wild's life so crazy they can't manage to write a few words a day to make a blog post. Well, please keep reading and I'll tell you all about it.
Any other bloggers out there ever wake up on the day you normally post new content and realize “Damn, I haven't written a single word all week.” Yeah? Me too.
I spent the last week traveling for work. I got home yesterday afternoon, minutes before the kids got home from school. I was excited to see them. Video calls are great, but just aren't the same as seeing someone you love and care about in person. We played a bit. I unpacked. I put on a load of laundry.
I believe that one of the most interesting, and challenging, things about being a librarian is that you never know what problem a person is going to walk through the door with at any given moment.
It could be something simple like needing to print from their phone or help with downloading an ebook. Some need computer access. Others want entertainment for themselves or their children. Some just need a place to get out of the the elements. Other issues are more complex and don't have a simple answer, or maybe they can't be solved with a visit to the library. We had one such instance not so long ago.
I'm an avid reader of Noisy Deadlines. In fact, discovering Noisy's blog is how I found out about the Write.as platform. I had been looking into starting a blog again via WordPress or Blogger, but after stumbling across Write.as I thought I would enjoy it more. So far, so good. I like the simplicity of it, the small internet feel, the lack of ads, but I digress.
If you're curious as to why I started blogging again, and you haven't read my first post, Why This Blog, you might enjoy reading it, or you might not. There's only one way to find out.
Anyways, why am I talking about Noisy Deadlines? Noisy's latest blog post, Embracing Lighter Reads struck a chord with me. So, I wanted to add to the conversation.
If you want to read the first post in this series you can find it here. It has all of the background information for this series.
The general premise, however, is that many blue-collar skills translate well into library work. That is, a general understanding of certain blue-collar skills can be beneficial to a librarian. There is no scientific evidence or any scholarly articles I can link in order to back up this theory (I guess there could be, I honestly haven't looked). I'm just going on my own lived experience for this series. My knowledge from working in the trades has served me very well in the library world.
In my first post in this series, I covered my experience working in a diesel mechanic shop and how I leveraged my skills in the parts department to land my first library job. Today, I want to talk about basic construction skills.
This is a few weeks later than what I had hoped for in Early Mornings, but I wasn't happy with it. I made extensive edits, and I am much happier with this version. I hope you enjoy reading about my child's accomplishment as much I did in getting there with them.
1000 Books
My youngest child recently completed their 1000 Books Before Kindergarten (1KBBK) journey. It was a huge moment for us. We started this adventure with them the day they were born. Yes, I took board books to the hospital!