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It's official, I am a card holder at the Lewis and Clark County Public Library! Woot woot! Which is great because I have finally started working on Sleeping Beauty again and I've been able to take advantage of the library's general peace and quiet (and Ed's day off) to get some writing done and to check out some fun research materials that pertain to my story.
Here is the fact-laden goodness I am currently reading. Yum!
A couple of odd facts:
1. The juvie non-fiction is interfiled with the adult non-fiction at ye ol' Lewis and Clark County Public Library, which means that picture book of Sleeping Beauty is on the same shelf as the "Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairytales," which spends quite a bit of time highlighting the lovely subjects of rape, incest and cannibalism. However, I suppose you could argue so does the original versions of the Grimms' tales which I wouldn't be surprised to see filed in Juvie. Still, it's weird to me.
2. My many, many years volunteering, and working, in the Los Angeles County Public Library systems have permanently damaged my brain. I apparently have the Dewey Decimal system still random access memory filed away in my noggin. I didn't have to look at the catalog once, I just went directly to the 398s for fairytales and the 535s for the gemology - like a homing pigeon that's been set free in a forest of non-fiction. Bing! There I was in front of the right section without much conscious thought. It was actually disconcerting. I don't have room in my brain for this nonsense. I forget things that have actually happened to me and yet, I've got a whole numeric filing system in there? Couldn't that space be used for more convenient (like spelling words I've long forgotten) or romantic (foreign language anyone?) purposes?
I did, however, manage to get about 2,000 words our of my head and onto a page on Friday, so here is hoping new scenes of Sleeping Beauty can take up residence in my head and wait for their turn on the page.
Yay for book research! And I am totally impressed that you have the Dewey Decimal System in your brain... I can NEVER find books in the library!
ReplyDeleteFantastic! A quiet place to escape to, research, and more words finding their way onto your pages - success all around!
ReplyDeleteIs it terrible to admit that when researching any unfamiliar topic that (after google of course) I PREFER the juvie non-fiction? Just gimme the basics, in short bursts, interspersed with lotsa pictures. More likely to ski into my addled sleep-deprived brain that way.
YES!!! I should have known my separated-at-birth-big-sis would also have an internal DDC!!! My family and friends think it's fascinating to give me a random subject and time how long it takes me to give them the numerical location. Sad? Nah, I like it - makes hunting down research materials so much easier. Plus, somewhere out there, there's gotta be a guy who'll find that sexy ;o) LOL!
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes, we really do exist in multiples. We've all worked at libraries, and we all have Dewey memorized. Rebecca, my family does that to me, too! I really think shelving just codes things in your brain. Shelve enough books on cats and you can rattle off 636.8 without a second thought.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes with your book!
ReplyDeleteYay! Good for you! But why do you need the book on gemstones?
ReplyDeleteGood luck on settling in to your new home! That sounds like a big move. I'm so glad you're good at libraries because I am so bad at them! I don't know how to find anything when I'm there in person. But I can do a pretty good Internet search. So now I just search the library website and put things on hold, then someone else has to find it for me and put it on a special shelf in my name. It's a beautiful thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my nursing pads. Oh the joys of motherhood! I also read that post about before and after being a mother. The privacy bit was so funny. I have a mental list called "You Know You Need More Privacy When..." I keep adding items like my three year old boy asking questions about feminine hygiene products, etc. Can I say that on a blog?
Brittany - You can say it on my blog :) I think the library searching has more to do with rote repetition than anything else!
ReplyDeleteRebecca & Nancy - We are starting to scare me (and that wasn't so much the royal we as the borg we, tee hee).
Becca (Miss Anderton) - Because my heroine works in, and lots of my action takes place in, a Gem & Mineral Museum & gems are an important part of my Sleeping Beauty myth . . . I think . . . at least in the first draft, lol!
QLTV - I'd much rather have other things taking up this space in my brain, especially as there are paid librarians to help with these sorts of things!
Thanks for all the comments!
I never feel at home somewhere until I have a library card. :)
ReplyDeleteI love my local library but nationally (UK) we seem to be losing them at a rate of knots!
ReplyDelete