Good Evening

Langston Huges, A Harlem Renaissance author and wonderful poet.

Today, I did everything I usually do; weed some books, arrange the central display, and sit at the reference desk. It was a pretty good day.

I also went through January through Marches Paperclips catalog to order mass market paperbacks for the library. I am going to go through three months worth of the catalog at a time. It is the kind of work which requires patience and focus.

Me and my colleague handed in the first draft of the new brochure describing services at our library. It is a simple two page brochure. I am trying to get the brochure so it will fit on a single piece of paper front and back. It is really designed so we will have something to give people on January 8, 2009 when the local nonprofit agencies come to visit us to show what we can offer them.

I sat with a colleague at the local corner restaurant. I have been trying to watch my weight lately. I try to eat a little better. I had a greek salad and two cups of coffee. Tonight, I am going to do my yoga exercises.

I am sorry if this blog seems a bit slow. I am still reading Guerrilla Negotiating Unconventional Weapons and Tactics to Get What You Want. It is a substantial book, not because the contest is particularly good, but because it is very varied. A lot of the content is suggestion lists, hints, and tips. It is very easy to pick out suggestions that can help you negotiate from long lists of ways to prepare for negotiating.

There is a lot of material. Most of it is useless. But among the suggestions are a few truly useful gems. The gems may be different for different people because there is so much covered. It is taking me quite a bit of time to read the book. The content is very dense. They are trying to make all of their suggestions count. If you have patience, you will probably learn something from reading this book. I will probably finish reading it tomorrow.

It looks like there is going to be more consolidation in the publishing industry after Black Wednesday, December 3, 2008. MacMillan laid off people and is consolidating its childrens division. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6622740.html

I noticed there was a new collection called Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics. It looks like something worth getting. Nobody in our library system has it. I reviewed The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics earlier. I really liked it. The early horror comics are a major inspiration for the Comics Code Authority. I think it would be interesting to see what inspired people to change the conduct of an entire industry in the 1950s.

While wandering through blogland, I found a book which I probably should read. I might want to write a book some day and get it published. A lot of the battle is making it ready for the editors desk. Copyediting and Proofreading For Dummies by Suzanne Gilad looks kind of interesting to me. But, then I am book obsessed and like to read books on grammar and structure. I am hoping understanding the process will improve my grammar enough so I can become a better writer. I even requested it from my library.