Lari's Bookshelf

I thought I'd give those who follow me here a little update on a few things that have been going on. Books and Beer For those following me on Google Plus , you may already know about last week's " Books and Beer Hangout " hosted by Epublish Unum's Evo Terra and Jeff Moriarty . My co guest was everyone's favorite bad astronomer Phil Plait . The subject of the show: writing and publishing science based books  (hence, the reason my last post was a booklist for the non-science reader ). It was my first public hangout, and it turned out to be such a blast. The post-show hangout, or "Hang Over," allowed for people to come into the hangout and ask us questions. I was so happy that peeps were interested in libraries and librarianship. There was also some discussion as to the future of publishing and the need for traditional publishers to re evaluate their business strategies with ebooks. We also ruminated on the possibility of a zombie apocalyp...

If you use blogger, you'll have the option to try a new blogger interface . I noticed when I logged on today, that there was a pop-up and a button encouraging me to try it out. I love the look! It looks so much cleaner and my Reading List is actually easier to read. Blogger Dashboard New Post Anyways, I thought I would share since it looks pretty cool. I know that the regularity of my posts have gone down in the past two weeks, but mainly because I've been undergoing a series of existential crises. Hahahahaha. No really. I plan on picking things back up to their regular pace today. Do you have blogger? What do you think of the new interface so far?

So the fabulous Jenni Elyse told me that I would be very interested in her latest post on her blog. I was surprised and flattered, because she nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award. Thank you for the awesome award Jenni! I recommend everyone check out her blog at  http://jennielyse.com . Liebster Blog Award Instead of rewriting the instructions, here they are as they were on Jenni's post (tho I added the bit in brackets): The Liebster Blog Award is designed to bring additional recognition to those bloggers with less than 200 followers [or subscribers via blog reader]. If you receive the award, you should link back to the blogger that nominated you and nominate five more blogs. Also, don’t forget to let them know that you nominated them. And now time for my Liebster Blog Award nominations! Drum roll please.... Baddum-CHA! 1. Becky at The Hummingbird Hollow : I love Becky's posts. They are always heartfelt, and she has some fantastic reads as well as beautiful ...

I haven't been doing my own creative writing. I know. I said I was going to. I made a goal. But I didn't reach it. At all this week. So what now? Do I throw in the towel? No. I'm not going to. But I am going to consider making my goal a more reachable feat. 1000 words, not including my blog and freelance writing, is just too much for me right now. I'm knocking down my daily goal to 250 words a day. Until I can get used to THAT, then I'll consider bumping up my goal again. I really enjoy running this blog, but it has taken up a ton of my time this month. Not that I don't enjoy it, I do. Good news is that ever since I figured out a schedule for the blog , I have been able to at least manage my time a little better. I think the first week with the new schedule went off without a hitch. The blog's still new, but it's finally maturing. I spent so much time online, researching on how to do this stuff right. Reading on how to design my blog, etc. Playin...

Q. Name 3 authors that you would love to sit down and spend an hour or a meal with just talking about either their books or get advice on writing from? I know they are dead, but since this is a hypothetical question to begin with, I would vote for Mark Twain, Carl Sagan, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Hands down. I don't know how much talking I would do. I would just sit down and listen to them say fabulous things.  Q. What’s the ONE GENRE that you wish you could get into, but just can’t? Romance. For instance, even after trying to enjoy it, I have never been a Jane Austen fan. I find the Mr. Darcy obsession intriguing but I just think it's all boring. There is such a huge following for romance, however, and a lot of good stuff out there I'm sure. And even though I have a difficult time liking the genre, every now and then I'm pleasantly surprised. 

Since this blog is my baby, I've been letting it grow and develop with little restrictions. I am realizing now it is old enough to have a regimented schedule. Not to mention, the librarian part of me is calling out for a more organized approach to blogging! Here is a tentative weekly schedule for my blog: Reviews : Tuesdays and Fridays will be days for posting book reviews. If I am only able to get one book review completed for the week (I'm guessing this will be the norm), that post will go up on Friday so that my blog has consecutive days of posting (Wednesday through Sunday). If I happen to get two reviews done for the week, I will post the second review on Tuesday.  Wednesday Reads : Wednesdays I will be exercising my reader's advisory skills (fancy librarian jargon for "book recommendation skills") and pulling books together on a certain topic, essentially doing a digital book display for a post. Topics will be based on popular trends in literature, and ...