Kids' books should not be depressing

I just finished reading "Meet Kit" to Abigail. It's one of the American Girl books, which I generally find to be wonderful. I loved the earliest series as a kid, and so far Molly is Abigail's favorite.

But tonight was Kit. Kit lived in 1932. Kit's world was waaaay too similar to today's world. Her dad lost his job, people are losing their homes, the economy is in a shambles. Kit is not good escapism right now. We need to go back to World War II's Molly, or pioneer Kirsten, my personal favorite. I don't need to read about my own life!

Waving the literary white flag

I'm very sorry, Vicky, but I have to give up. I have tried to get through The Secret Agent, but I'm just getting lost in all the description of individuals. I keep dozing off. I like description, give me an expansive Hardy landscape, but I can't get into these in-depth thought processes of people of varying importance. It took too long for the "event' to happen, and now the investigation is getting bogged down, too. So I'm really sorry, I've tried to love it, but I'm going to put it away at about page 100. Other tomes are calling my name.

It hurts to not get through a piece of literary fiction. I can pitch mass-market without guilt, but I'm supposed to like Conrad, right? I liked Heart of Darkness the second time through, really! But he's lost me.

And I saw part of a Masterpiece version of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and I'm dying to read it again :)

Holiday photos

Hopefully, Brad is wowing the hiring committee at SCAD and we will soon have reason to celebrate. Until then, some photos!

The big Christmas hit was the ginormous Barbie house. Though she also loved Trouble from Santa!


Cut-out sugar cookies are always a must at Grandma's.


We went to Pensacola Beach on Christmas Day. A thick fog blanketed the area, and the light on the water was amazing. It was a very surreal beach trip.


My favorite from the beach. Monochromatic with silver light.


We also went to Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL, for a light show. It was huge and quite entertaining. The drive home without blankie, not so much.

An afternoon

I have some time before I get Abigail from school, and nothing pressing, so I thought I'd think "aloud" here. I'd love to post pictures, but that means getting time on the PC. I will soon. I got some beautiful shots of Pensacola Beach in the fog on Christmas Day.

Life is still progressing. We're still looking for employment like the rest of the country, it seems. We're haven't given up hope yet, though, and my publisher is still going to go ahead with trying to relaunch the magazine. If he gets enough advertising interest, I'll have a job again in a month!

But I'm not convinced this journalism thing will work in the long run. It just doesn't make much money and is in such flux right now. I've never been a hugely idealistic person, and I can handle just doing a job well and getting my meaning from other aspects of life. So I've been trying to think of what other kinds of careers might suit me. I'm very organized, very responsible, good work-ethic. Repetitiveness doesn't bother me toooo much. But I still want to work with words or communication, not just be a secretary. A thought struck me yesterday: librarian. Hmmmm. Surrounded by books, talking to people about books, organization in the highest degree, interaction with people ... and a master's that would only take 1.5 years full time. Hmmmmm. There's supposed to be a huge wave of retirements in the next few years, so demand is actually supposed to be good. And libraries have become hugely popular again in the economic downturn. This may be worth thought. I wouldn't do public school, but university or community library could be fun. A friend of ours' sister is a librarian, I need to talk to her.

And I could still do some freelance writing if I wanted. Or start a blog about the secret lives of librarians and feed into people's weird fetishes :) Just call me Marian, Madam Librarian.