I was walking with my sister-in-law today. She told me about the books she got at the library. I told her about the coffee table book I saw there about the most beautiful libraries in the world. Pages folded out to give one a panoramic view of many of them. Libraries in Paris, London, Rome, Spain and the New York Central library. 

 The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World (Hardcover)by Guillaume de Laubier (Author), Jacques Bosser (Contributor), James H. Billington (Photographer), Laurel Hirsch (translator)(Author)  

Of course the library I remember most wasn’t there. It wasn’t even beautiful. In fact, it was at one time a one-roomed school house that had been moved to town as a ‘portable’ classroom when our school burned to the ground in the dead of winter. I was eight and my mother couldn’t find me because I had taken shelter at the wrong house but that’s a different story. After the new school was built one of the temporary classrooms served as a library for many years. I didn’t care if the building was old or not. It was always exciting to walk into the library and smell the oiled wood floors and the dusty shelves. In the winter the only warm spot was near the pot-bellied stove but we didn’t care. We made our selection and hurried to the desk so the librarian could mark the due date in the back.

 I remember The Green-eyed Stallion that I read when I was home with pink eye. I had to pry my eyelids apart to read. And Cherry Ames Nurse stories that took me inside hospitals and into romance.  Nancy Drew– girl detective took me into the world of mystery and logic. I read everything and anything.

 I’ve had an on-going love affair with libraries. I confess that I know the whereabouts and the general layout of libraries across the country. It’s one of the first places I locate when visiting a place especially on research. I have found lovely treasures. One library in a nearby university town had a special room to house old and rare books about Alberta history. It overwhelms me to simply look at the titles.

 Thanks to the foresight of librarians and powers that be, we can access books from across the country in our own library through inter-library loans. I’ve held and read rare and hard to find books this way though I confess I usually go to an on-line used book source and try and find my own afterwards so I can read and reference them often.

 The history of libraries goes back a long way. About 30,000 clay tablets found in ancient Mesopotamia date back more than 5,000 years. Archaelogists have uncovered papyrus scrolls from 1300-1200bc in the ancient Egyptian cities of Amarna and Thebes. The Great Library of Alexandria, a public library open to those with the proper scholarly and literary qualifications, was founded about 300bc.It wasn’t until waves of immigration and the philosophy of free public education for children that public libraries spread in the US. The first public library in the country opened in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1833. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie helped build more than 1,700 public libraries in the US between 1881 and 1919. (information from http://www.history-magazine.com/libraries.html)

 I know that in many pioneer towns one of the first things the community got after a school and church was a library.

I found this information on an early Canadian library.

Claremont established a Mechanics’ Institute in November 1891. Mr. Jobbitt was the first librarian and the library operated from his store. In 1895 the institute became a public library (not free). After 1897 the library was open three afternoons and evenings each week. It continued in its location until Mr. Jobbitt resigned in 1903. (from http://www.uoguelph.ca/~lbruce/photos/Claremont.htm)

Rows and rows of books. It makes me want to pop into a library right now and breath deeply. I hope you have lots of fond memories of libraries and books.

Two things mark the month. Today we got our first snowfall!!

I think it’s beautiful. So fresh and clean. Of course, when it is accompanied by wind and cold temperatures I will not be saying this. And perhaps my husband isn’t enjoying it as much as I am from the shelter of the warm living room.

Another thing marks November NaNoWrMo– National November Writing Month, I think it stands for. Writers from all over the world commit to writing the first draft of a book during the month.

The whole idea is to just get it down. Just do it. I’ve never joined this group because it is how I work all the time. I do a fast, furious draft (sort of like vomiting out the story). I do my 70,000 words in 3 to 4 weeks. It might sound impossible but it’s how I work. I have learned how much planning and pre-writing I need to do. And I’m learning more and more how to improve my method so I end up with a story that needs polishing, not rewritting entirely. At least that is my goal. So November is a month to write a first draft. However, I have several months like that throughout the year. Fun, challenging, and sometimes frustrating.

Also, you will notice on my website–if you go there–and along the sidebar of the blog, that  the covers for my next releases are up. I am pleased to announce Love Inspired Historical is releasing a book in Sept. 09 called Dakota Child. I love the title.

I just got a new blog look. Nice and tidy, don’t you think. I thought I’d celebrate by posting flower pictures. Enjoy.

There must be something about this time of year. Perhaps it’s the cold weather that reminds me that for the next few months I will be happily cocooned at home. Yes, happily because I can concentrate on my writing instead of trying to cram it in between other things. Anyway, weather or not, I’ve been hit with a bug.

It started when I needed to lay my hands on a certain book to check a research fact. I knew I’d read it. It wasn’t on my shelves–which prompted me to sort my research books according to subject and/or era and get rid of the ones I will never use. However, I didn’t find it there. So I dug through one of the boxes of notes, clippings, bits of paper…. very frustrating.

 I found it eventually although by that time I was dusty and ruffled. And I decided there had to be a better way. I consulted writing friends and got some good ideas and set to work.

First, on a computer file, I listed all the research books I had read, where they were (some were in the local library) and a little bit about the specfic information I could find in each book. That step was fairly simple.

Then I tackled the 3 boxes and foot high stack of clippings, printouts, pamphlets, etc. Following a suggestion from one of my consultants that I felt would fit my life style (simple but orderly) I slipped everything into plastic sleeves and sorted it all according to subject and/or era then popped everything into binders.  I labeled the binders and voila. I am organized. See the proof. I know it doesn’t look like much but you should have seen the before mess which I was too embarassed to reveal.

I still want to organize the research books I have that haven’t been read by me. But that will come later.

I found lots of interesting little things.  Like this: