Internships, Novelling, and Other Summery Things

I'm sitting in the office of my internship, taking a few moments to update the blog while waiting for my boss to get out of a meeting so we can figure out the structure of my internship. The folks at CADL are pretty laid back about the whole thing. I guess that comes with free labor eh? They've got me working on a series of projects.

• Book-A-Librarian has me figuring out the ins and outs of the reference interview, how we can set aside a couple librarians for 1 on 1 time with the patrons helping with things like in depth research, or technology assistance similar to my old job at the Knowledge Navigation Center.
• I'm working on figuring out how to implement a teen literary magazine that will be designed, edited, and basically run by teens but facilitated by the library.
• I'm also working with English Discoveries Online, a web based ESL program that doesn't get much use by the patrons. Outreach Services has me designing and preparing a proposal for a 20-40 minute class teaching non-native patrons how to use it.

My internship mentor, Jim Maclean, is really intent on giving me a working hands-on approach to the behind the scenes of library outreach services, and not sticking me with dead desk time (like time to update my blog...). We've also spent a bit of the downtime I do have, especially later in the day discussing the future of libraries, something he has a very cynical outlook on.

The internship is interesting, and while I am still excited about libraries, it has worn on me a bit, which brings me to the writing.

Last update here I was at 76k. I'd wanted the novel done by summer. It didn't happen. Now it's June and I'm at 92k. A nice fruitful jump, but not hard or fast enough to bring the book quite to a conclusion. I figure I've got roughly 10-15k more to go before I've finished it. I'm hoping to knock it out this weekend.

I've also made a pact with myself to up my daily writing dosage to 1000 words a weekday, and 5000 for the whole weekends. That output I figure will guarantee novels being knocked out at a regular pace, and short stories by the load. I don't expect everything to be good, but it's time to refine the craft.

Boss just got out of his meeting, so I've got to go. Next up is summer trips, weddings, marathon training, and hopefully the next part of the American Gods Road Trip

Peeking My Head Above the Parapet

Hello Blogosphere!

It's me, Nathan.

I know it's been a while. It's summer now. I am blissfully out of school. Less blissfully, I'm not getting paid. This comes from the wonderful collegiate institution of internships, coupled with the equally as wonderful flagging economy. But I just have to sit back and keep telling myself that "it's for the greater good!" and "it'll pay off in the long run!" So, with those two thoughts in mind I'm getting ready to begin my summer internship at the Capitol Area District Library. One of said requirements for the internship is a blog, which I'll be setting up soon (not sure if I'll do it here or at another location (seems like a cheap and amusing way of boosting readership)). I go in Tuesday for a meeting with the folks at CADL to hammer out the last of the details needed to get this internship off the ground.

Needless to say, I'm not exactly rushing to get this thing going (as far as I see it I can either not get paid to work, or not get paid to not work (the latter of which leaves me time to write)).

And speaking of writing, I didn't reach my goal of finishing my novel by summer. It has me rather frustrated, that I broke a big goal, but I'm doing what I can to make amends to myself. A quick run on the calculator informed me that I should be able to crank out 10,000 words in just over two hours of straight writing at my average typing speed. While I know this would mean I would have to be in utter prolific mode, where everything that comes out of my fingers is gold that I don't want to lose (a thing that never happens, and never will), the thought of being able to make that kind of push and see that kind of headway with balls-to-the-wall writing is rather tantalizing, and tomorrow, after I do a fair amount of unpacking and a little bit of intern prepping, I'll give a shot at.

I'm at about 76,000 words. I'm thinking the rough draft, when it finally cycles to an ending here is going to be close to 95-100,000 words. A pretty solid rough draft according to most professionals I've talked to. Hopefully (if I can pick it up) I want to have it done by the end of May.

In the news of unpacking, my friend pointed out to me (as we sat around talking about comics and video games) that I am yet again 23 and living in my parents' basement. Not a very empowering thought, until I realize that it is strictly a money saver until I graduate next May. And that's the whole point. After becoming endlessly fed up of my roommates (the ones who smoked in the house, and liked to practice their wicked DJing skills at full bore at 3 in the morning) I pushed for my lease to end, found a sublessor for May, and moved back home. Now I'm in the agonizingly slow state of unpacking. The end result (albeit in my parents' basement) is going to be pretty sweet.

The promised American Gods Road Trip post is in draft right now, and will be finished when I ahve the time to finish fine-tuning it. Still thinking of maybe doing it next spring break (that is unless of course I'm out in LA). It will happen soon though.

On that note I am going to pack it in for the night, read a bit of Soon I Will Be Invincible, which has been so-so, but definitely amusing (especially the evil-doer's story).