National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month.  I don’t know why or who decided November was to be the time for wanna-be’s and professional writers to devote every waking (and even sleeping) hour to writing a novel; an informal research (i.e., done by Google—not a librarian) indicates that in 1999 a group of 21 writers in the San Francisco area started NaNoWriMo with the goal of writing 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. A crazy idea that now has approximately 200,000+ world-wide authors and authors-to-be, including your Library Blog Mistress, attempting to somehow squeeze out 50,000 words that hopefully will one day become the “All American Best Novel.”  We can all dream, can’t we?   Lol

In all seriousness and trust me, these writers are serious, few deceive themselves that their 50,000 words will prove to be publishable or even readable fiction by December 1st.  But there’s where the genius is within the madness.  If the writer is to accomplish 50,000 words in the span of one month, especially one that has a major holiday in it, there ain’t no time for editing  our work. That means the little loud-mouth internal critic that we all have can’t stop us by saying, “Wait, that word is misspelled!” or “Stop, that sentence is incomplete!” or “Whatever made you think YOU could write?”  

It’s the doubt, self-criticism and fear of failure that stops a lot of us from reaching our goals, I think.  At least for me, it is.  There’s a quote that I have taped to my computer screen.  PERFECT is the greatest enemy of GOOD.   (I don’t remember who said it so you will have check with your librarian to find out if you are interested.) Writing 50,000 words won’t produce a literary novel for most of us; it will, however, give most of us a chance to plant the seed for a possible novel.  After December 1^st, then the real work can begin. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.  And oh yes, lots of trips to the library to research the various ways a _______ can work.  (Hey, I’m not giving my plot line away!)

It’s not too late to start if you are a writer or have ever wanted to try your hand at it.  This is only Day 3 and you’re only approximately 3,000 words behind.  If you are interested, the website with the history and rules for the annual marathon writing race is: www.nanowrimo.org.

Happy writing and reading from your Library Blog Mistress!

New Tools for Finding Jobs

According to the Star-Telegram’s article on October 10, 2011, there are “better-than-expected employment numbers” with employers adding 103,000 jobs in September.  Good news. Yet the same article in the Star-Telegram states that “the number of Americans out of work for six months or longer crept up to 6.2 million.”  Not so good news.

  

The unemployment rate is staying at 9.1 percent which means, chances are, that you or a family member or a friend is unemployed and looking for a job.  This is true for me and a friend of mine.  We both have adult children currently unemployed and looking for work.  My friend and I were discussing yesterday about how frustrated her daughter, a recent UTA magna cum laude graduate, felt when she received feedback from a prospective employer that her resume needed minor tweaking.  I, being the Library Blog Mistress, suggested that she contact the Haltom City Public Library as at one time they had held classes on resume writing.  

That’s when I learned that the classes are no longer available as NTRLS (North Texas Regional Library System) suffered major budget reductions due to cuts from the State Library, their funding source (the State Library sustained  a 64% budget cut, largest of any state agency).  But there is good news according to Lesly Smith, our Library Director.  The Haltom City Public Library has just subscribed to a new database called ResumeMaker.  It can be found on the Library’s website, http://www.haltomcitytx.com/HC_Public_Library/PublicLibrary.html and is free to all Haltom City Public Library card holders.  I wish I’d known about this website before my son paid $150 to have his resume written!  Another new database, www.TWDL.org  which offers multiple job listing websites, will be available on the Library’s website as well. 

Looking for employment is a hard and often discouraging process with the job seekers to wonder: Where do I look for job opportunities?  Why haven’t I gotten that interview?  And how much longer can I go without any income coming in?  Thanks to the Haltom City Public Library, job seekers will now have new avenues and resources to help make their search a more successful venture.