still here…

Work has been busy. I wrapped up the 4th of 5 searches last week and forwarded a memo for HR recommending our committee’s choices for interviews in the 5th and final search I’ll have to chair for a while.

In other work news: I submitted the Academic Library Survey with about a day to spare. I’d started working on that one in January but it got sidetracked by the aforementioned search committee work. I also provided collection numbers and expenditures for the Music department’s accreditation, documenting the SQL we used so perhaps it will be easier to run these types of reports for other departments as needed. I’ve squeezed in some time experimenting with Access – and yay!(?) – the boss is sending me to an Ex Libris Voyager reporting technical seminar in May. I am hoping to learn a lot more about acquisitions queries.

The cold from hell may – fingers crossed – finally be gone. I noted the appearance of the scratchy throat on February 16, so here we are 5+ weeks later…

Someone at K-State mentioned my Star Wars stories to a teacher of gifted students at Lee School and I had the pleasure of being invited to chat with them at the opening kick-off of “The Write Group”. I think there may have been rumor that George Lucas was visiting, but the kids (3rd-6th graders) didn’t seem too disappointed. They were wonderful. They wanted to know when I first started writing, when I first got published, why Star Wars, how that process worked, etc. We also talked about the writing in general and inspiration for characters and stories – they were fascinated by the picture that was the genesis for “A Certain Point of View“. I had a great time talking with them. I hope they enjoyed it, too!

And speaking of writing… I’ve been making great progress on my novel! I am working on chapter 17 now. Since early February I’ve added over 14,000 words or approximately 2,000/week. I used to feel great if I hit 500 a week! I hope the muse continues to inspire me. It is so exciting to have rolled past 62,000 words, to get fabulous critiques and encouragement from my writers’ group, and to see that the end may be in sight much sooner than I’d dreamed.