Happy Birthday!

Today my blog celebrates its first birthday! And I’m so proud of how it and I have grown:

A year ago this blog was read by just my family and friends.

Now I have a whole 27 followers. Not that impressive but it’s still gotten bigger (and if you’d like to become a follower, now it’s a good time. Celebrate with me!)

A year ago I was lucky if someone looked at my blog everyday.

         Now I have page views in the 600s every month.

A year ago I was an unemployed book lover with a part time unpaid internship.

Now I’ve completed Book Lover Goal #1 and have my dream job—an editorial assistant position at one of the best children’s publishing houses.

A year ago I was writing the fourth big revision of my WIP The Rose of Coracus.

Now I’ve finished up the fifth draft and have queried. I was unsuccessful (but only queried two agents). And although I’m still unagented, I’m taking big steps to achieve Book Lover Goal #2, to be a published author.

Not bad in one year, right? I hope you’ll continue to read my blog as it grows even more in the coming years (and please give me your feedback about what you’d like to see here).

And now, to celebrate, check out these fantastic children’s book themed cakes: yum, wow, pretty!

A Thank You Note

I normally participate in RTW but since YA Highway didn’t provide a question today (they’re doing something important instead) I decided to post on something else timely. It is Teacher Appreciation Week, which runs the entire first week of May (the official National Teacher Day was yesterday) and we should celebrate the teachers in our lives!

It’s kind of required that I appreciate teachers—after all, my family is full of them. Both parents, several grandparents, a cousin and my sister have all somehow been part of the education system. From an early age I saw the dedication, hard work and patience that is required of teachers…and learned that my career calling might be elsewhere.

I have many many teachers to thank, however, for helping me down the path I’ve chosen full of reading and writing. And I’m thankful to each and everyone one:

My mom (my first ‘teacher’ but also really my elementary school Spanish teacher): She taught me important lessons about reading, even if I was a precocious child who didn’t quite get it. When teaching me a lesson in the importance of spelling correctly/putting letters in the right order, she explained the difference between the same four letters in “bake: B-A-K-E” and “beak: B-E-A-K”. I turned to her, and with helpful motions to illustrate, “A bird can beak a cake” peck peck peck… (Good thing teachers are patient!)

My 3^rd grade teacher: Her genre-of-the-month program changed me from a reluctant reader into a book lover and writer. Full story here.

My 6^th grade Language Arts teacher: Pushed me to enter writing contests, introduced me to ‘real’ poetry by giving me a poetry book for a birthday present (we shared the same birthday), but most importantly, introduced me to the fantasy genre and Tamora Pierce through the trade book, Alanna: The First Adventure, which has greatly influenced my writing.

My 11^th and 12^th grades AP English teacher: Changed me from someone who likes to write to someone who knows how to write. It’s a very very important difference that she knew well. Although we were all a little afraid of her at the beginning of the year, her willingness to sit down with students and explain exactly why a comma didn’t belong there or how we could have better phrased a sentence was a priceless experience. She also introduced me to Jane Austen.

And I’ve had many other fantastic teachers (especially history teachers and many of my professors at Hamilton) along the way who completely deserve a ‘thank you’ shout out even if their subjects or interests didn’t directly impact my career choices, they most certainly have impacted me as a person. And there are other teachers whom I’ve had that I probably don’t even realize how they’ve impacted me yet—teachers have the power to sneak in knowledge and lessons when you least expect them. And that’s what makes teachers so wonderful.

Why Children's Books?

My Book Lover Life Goal #1 is to work at a children’s book company.  Currently, I’m aiming at an entry-level editorial assistant job.   I can’t tell you (but I’m sure I will at some point) about the countless number of contacts, mostly Hamilton alums, that I’ve met with hoping to hear advice, gain knowledge about the publishing industry, and get my name out there.  There’s one thing I have to say about those who work in the publishing industry more than anything else: they are the nicest, most helpful people!  The only problem is, despite those meetings and hours of research online, there aren’t many jobs.  There are editorial assistant jobs working for academic publishers or marketing jobs at children’s book companies.   But that isn’t what I want (and, in full disclosure, if I’m still the very unemployed book lover in 3 more months I might try one of those to get my foot in the door…more on that later).  I want a job as an editorial assistant at a children’s book company.

But why children’s?

This one question is so key to what I want to accomplish in my life, and has impacted all my book lover goals.  You see, I wasn’t always a book lover.  In fact, I was a book hater. The turning point occurred when my third grade teacher, Mrs. Moore, handed me a choose-your-own-adventure book.  Until that time not only did I dislike reading, but I was a lower-level reader despite the many efforts of my mom and teachers.  Mrs. Moore changed all that with her ‘genre a month’ project, and for some reason, the choose-your-own-adventure book opened up the possibilities of reading for me.  Perhaps the format of choose-your-own-adventure books is what this very imaginative child needed to enjoy reading; I’m not quite sure what did it.  But by the end of the year I had devoured the choose-your-own-adventure selection in the school and public libraries, moved on to historical fiction and mystery books thanks to Mrs. Moore’s ‘genre a month’ project, had written more short stories than were assigned, and had moved from one of the lowest reading level groups to the highest by fourth grade.  For Halloween in fourth grade I was a book that I had written and illustrated myself, my little sister tagging along as Timothy the Tiger, the main character of my story.

One book changed my life.  Looking back, it wasn’t a great book.  Not an award winner by any means.  But it didn’t need to be.  It just took one book to spark my imagination and show me how wonderful the world of books could be.  I was a book lover from that day in the third grade, and I continue to be one.  I devour books, I majored in writing books, I picked extracurriculars that helped bring books alive for children, I volunteered at a literacy camp and a library in the children’s section.  And I want to work at a children’s book company.  I want to help find and publish books that will inspire children, just like that choose-your-own-adventure book did for me.  I am the Unemployed Book Lover, and the most frustrating thing of all, is until I become employed, my means to share my love of books and spread the joy of reading with children is limited.  A book can change a child’s life.  And that’s not just me being a dreamer.  It happened to me.

Welcome to my blog

It has been three months since I graduated from college.  Three l-o-n-g months at home in a small Connecticut town with little to do.   Most of my friends went to grad school; they don’t have to worry about finding a job in this bad-but-improving economy.  But I do.   And it’s frustrating!  So, what better way to spend my unemployed free time by telling you what books I LOVE and why, why it’s worth the wait to find a job involving books, and all the things I’m going to do because of my love for books.  Stay tuned.

A little about me:

I graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY with a degree in Creative Writing.  I was a good student, but I was also a ‘bad’ English major: I can’t spell (and love my new spell-check everywhere MacBook Pro), my comma usage is shaky, and I despise literary criticism.  I had trouble with most of my creative writing workshop classes until senior year because of those little details.  This past year, however, I was able to pursue a senior project and because it was of my own choosing and my classmates had to accept that, I feel as if I came into my own and really grew.  More on that later.  All in all, Hamilton was a great school that served me well during my four years.  Case in point (pay attention because this is a key step to where I am now): sophomore year I decided I wanted to pursue a summer internship in book publishing.  I wound up at Bloomsbury Children’s Books, my direct supervisor was a wonderful Hamilton alum, and my living expenses paid for by a generous scholarship given by Hamilton alums and the Hamilton Career Center.  Hamilton took care of me very well.

But I’ve graduated.  Hamilton is a part of my life, but because I’m an alumna, it’s mostly the past.  Where am I now?  That’s right…an unemployed book lover.  For the record, I’m not quite unemployed.  I’m working hard, just lacking a paying job.  For the summer I volunteered in the children’s section of my small town library and I’m about to begin an unpaid internship at a literary agency in Manhattan.  And I’ve been pounding the pavement.  Hard.  I can count at least twenty meetings with everyone (mostly Hamilton alums) from editorial assistant to publicity directors to HR managers from small publishing houses to the Big 5.  And I’ve had two interviews, but no job. Hopefully the internship (which I’m thrilled about) will help me achieve…

 Book Lover Goal

 #1: Editorial assistant position at a children’s publishing house.

My other two book lover goals are scarier to write about. They are the type of dreams you don’t talk about, unless you’re sure you’ll be successful because otherwise your naysayers will know of your ‘failure’.   But I’ll tell you what they are anyways:

More Book Lover Goals:

#2: Author of Middle Grade and YA Novels

#3: Owner of a bookstore (and bakery!)

Talking about my dreams, and getting feedback from friends and family, allows me to get advice on how to actually make those dreams come true.  Part of being a book lover means that you have a vivid imagination and you do dream.  That also might be why book lovers are constantly ‘unemployed’; they’re always searching for the next big thing, the next book or job or hobby that they can be passionate about.  I may be unemployed in the traditional and untraditional sense right now, and that part of being a book lover (as opposed to being a in-demand IT or medical professional) isn’t hot, but the tools I’ve learned from the books I’ve loved: hope, perseverance, hard work, and most importantly, to never stop dreaming, that’s the very best part. 

Okay, I’m done being cheesy.

Welcome to my blog (and remember, book lovers always keep reading for a bit before forming an opinion...so stick around for my next couple posts, too.)