Get ready to join Jean Luc and Number 1 as they hurl the Enterprise through the wormhole and end up in another time, another place! Well, maybe nothing quite that dramatic.
Why a wormhole, you might ask. Well, DJWBookworm is this website’s mascot, so there’s a slight connection. More importantly, every author has a special focus – a “golden thread” that binds their works together. Understanding these threads may just help us get our children to embrace learning! Give them what they enjoy, and they’ll never realize that new stuff is sinking into those noggins…. Indeed, in many homes, that would be going “where no one has gone before.” And as the definition of a wormhole suggests, we might find a connection – the ever elusive “why.”
After this entry, I won’t be writing about myself again – I promise. But I had to find a premise for this blog that follows my heart.
It took me months to figure out some sort of focus for a blog. What would people be interested in reading? What could help librarians and parents? I’m not an expert on anything. At all. As you’ll see in the next paragraph, I’m a “generalist.” That means that I know next to nothing about piles o’ stuff. And as one customer once told me, I’m condescending. That means that I think I know more than you, even if I can’t prove it. I can’t. Prove it.
The blog trainings that I read encouraged me to choose a subject I’m “passionate” about. There are a few things about me that fit that particular mold: History (my degree); Children’s books (I sold kids’ books in libraries for about 40 years); Music (I was an amateur vocalist before hearing loss stopped me); Driving (as a sales person, I drove over 50,000 miles per year for over 40 years) – and Sales (I’m supposed to be a “people person.” Hmm.) So, lots of stuff to choose from. Somehow, I led what most folks would consider a boring life – but somehow managed never to be bored.
I finally decided I want to write about children’s books, but there are so many blogs out there! And so boring! I agonized over this choice until something occurred to me – Librarians, teachers, and even parents want to get a handle on what their kids enjoy. So, popular authors. But how to focus on the books kids read right here in the Midwest? Enter the wonderful authors who represent the award lists in Kansas and Missouri. Show Me Readers, Mark Twain Awards, Truman, Gateway, William Allen White, and Bill Martin Jr. Nominee lists – and maybe even authors from the Dogwood and O’Neill Graphic Novel lists! OUR KIDS love these authors’ books! And there are loads of authors for me to choose from. So this is a place the adults can come to find out why authors write as they do. Predictably, there will be purchase lists of their works! (Feed the starving salesman!!) Librarians, these articles could be a great place to teach kids about an author’s motivations! Think: lesson plans! And finally, this approach will feed my need for doing research, sorta. Since I have been in nearly every town, large and small, in Kansas and Missouri, I’ve seen a lot of stuff. I mean, there’s even a mummy in Kansas! And a big freakin’ ball of twine! What more can you want? (See? That was very condescending.)
As you can tell, my writing style is a little strange. I’ve always felt that writing style is learned and nourished by reading. My favorite authors have always been humorists – Mark Twain, James Thurber, Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry. So, I’ll try to be lighthearted along the way. Finally, I fail to see how lengthy articles will add to anyone’s understanding or enjoyment, so I won’t be long-winded. Just sayin’.
So, be looking for columns every week or two, and literature lists to feed your own need for knowledge about these subjects. If I could draw, I’d include pictures of six-fingered or two-nosed natives a la “Ripley’s.” But that would make me talented. I’ll settle for this.
There are eight million stories in the naked city…