Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

We’ve been tagged again, and we’d hate to ignore it, especially since it was the kickin’ Anne at Book Buds who tagged us.

This one is a bit more challenging: Share 10-15 professional goals for the summer. Hmmm . . . okay, here goes:

Do I have to be serious here? Ah, okay . . . This might be challenging, as I’m taking a temporary break from librarianship (and sign language interpreting, for that matter), but I do work from home, and, hell, this blog is like a full-time job (but I do not say that bitterly) . . .

• First and foremost, Eisha and I have a freelance writing gig with The Poetry Foundation about which we are very excited. What an honor to write for the children’s section of their site. And if they like us, we’d love to do more. We’re looking forward to starting this summer writing assignment . . . we’ll share the link once it’s done.
• My buddy and pal, Shannon, and I are working on a YA poetry anthology, a project that began for me back in grad school. I haven’t given this project the focus it deserves and hope to do better, uh, starting now-ish. Good news is that I’ll actually see him this week (he lives about 200 miles away), and we can really talk about it all nitty-gritty, nuts-and-bolts, face-to-face.
• As for the blog, I’d love to get my review copies more organized and perhaps start an online spreadsheet for all the books and catalogs coming in — in an effort to better keep up. Whew. (But not a bad problem to have a’tall) . . .
• Someone once encouraged me to try to get some review-writing gigs with various and asundry journals in our field, but the problem is that most of them want you, understandably, to be a working librarian. But, I think there are a few who don’t, so perhaps I’ll look into that.
• Get more involved in professional development opportunities, as my schedule will allow (translated: as my wee daughters will allow).
• Find a way to pick back up my American Sign Language before I dang forget it!! (but without returning to interpreting, over which I got really burnt out) . . .
• Do more storytelling.
• Volunteer more, particularly with literacy promotion projects.
• Read more. Always. Always.
• Make time every day to read my favorite blogs. Sometimes I get so busy with my own reading and blogging and such, and then I have to cram and catch up.

Hmmm, no goals there regarding my job-that-pays, but that’s probably because I pretty much do whatever they give me, I do it with a smile, and what I do for them (as one of their contractors), honestly, isn’t exactly rocket science and has nothing to do with either one of my degrees, either (but it allows me to bring in some income while seeing my wee girls every day — woo hoo!).

Is anyone still with me? Wasn’t too terribly interesting to read, I suppose. Maybe Eisha’s will be more exciting (no pressure, E.) . . .

Well, I dunno about exciting, but here goes:

* Find a job in Ithaca. I’d like something totally different from what I’ve been doing for the past 10 years, maybe something in an academic library or even a bookstore, but at this point I’m not too terribly picky.

* And it would be really cool if I could find said job before the actual move in July.

* Blog-wise, I need to review more of what I read. Somehow I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing regular reviews. I think it’s because I’m kind of a slow writer, so it can take me a couple of hours to write a normal-length review. Lately, with work issues and moving issues and blah blah blah, that’s just too daunting. But once we get moved I hope to get back in the groove.

* That said, I’d also like to see if I can get a professional reviewing gig at a journal. If I do get a job that isn’t in children’s librarianship, or in a public library, I’ll need something to keep me feeling connected to the lit world.

* I’d also like to get more organized about the time I spend looking at other blogs. I can get so absorbed that sometimes I lose, like, two hours or so just browsing. So other times I avoid it completely because I can’t afford to lose two hours to it. Maybe I should set aside a specific time of day for it, and stick to it. Anyone else had problems with this, and maybe have suggestions?

* Of course I need to get to work, along with Jules, on that article we’re supposed to write for The Poetry Foundation.

* I need to organize my “office” (here it’s really a sunporch, but in Ithaca it’ll be a 2nd bedroom). Again, the fact that I’m about to pack and move everything in it makes that a complicated goal, but I’d like to use this move as an opportunity to THROW A BUNCH OF THIS CRAP AWAY while I’m packing, and maybe get stuff organized into a proper system that I’ll actually follow when I unpack.

* I also need to weed my books. It hurts, but seriously. I’ve had a copy of Herzog by Saul Bellow on my shelf for 15 years or so, and I’ve never read it. C’mon. What’s that about? I can lose that, right? Even if it is one of those books that literate people are supposed to have read? If I’ve lived this long without it, can’t I let it go?

* I’d like to get more serious about writing. I have a couple of started-long-ago projects I might revisit, and an actual finished picture book manuscript I submitted to a contest a couple of years ago that I might revise. If I end up between jobs for a while, maybe that’s something I can do to use the time productively.

* With my current job, I’d like to leave things in decent shape for the next person. I’ve been cleaning out my desk and file cabinet, but I’d like to do some weeding in the stacks, too. Those picture books are tight.

* I’d like to get current projects set up so that the other, non-children’s-services staff can handle stuff like the Summer Reading Program and scheduled guest performers if they don’t hire my replacement for a while.

Yikes, this looks like a busy summer. I’d better get off my bootie and get to work.

And now we should tag some other bloggers to list their own professional goals for the summer. So how about we use the cop-out answer:

Tag! You’re it!

If you feel like answering the meme, go for it. Consider yourself tagged.