It’s National Library Week! (Hooray… I love libraries. And I find librarians HOT!! But I’ll save the “book people are sexy people” blog for another time.)

Yet hey, best of all, April 15 (tomorrow) is SUPPORT TEEN LITERATURE DAY. The purpose of this, according to the American Library Association, is to “…raise awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today’s teens. Support Teen Literature Day also seeks to showcase some award-winning authors and books in the genre as well as highlight librarians’ expertise in connecting teens with books and other reading materials.”

So really, if you are reading this right now, I’d like to try and convince you to plan to do something. Run a teen book talk, hold an Academy Awards style young adult literature book vote, send a tweet about YA lit… just do something to show a little love for young adult literacy.

In a way it feels as if books are in the news a heckuva a lot these days. From the iPad to the Kindle to the buzz about a forthcoming Google Android Tablet, the e-book market is on everyone’s lips. Plus, Kitty Kelly has just taken Oprah out for a little walk on the scandal side, Stephanie Meyer has a new Twilight novella coming out and me, well, I’ve got a shelf of books by my bed that is tilting over waiting for me to get to them.

If you need some ideas from YALSA about how you can celebrate, click here.
If you don’t know who YALSA is click here.
If you want to see sexy librarians, click here.

(How come I have a feeling a lot of people clicked the last link? Do I know my blog readers or what?)

Let’s hear it for the libraries, huh?

BTW, if you want to see a slideshow of some amazing libraries, click here.

Libraries: an institution I genuinely love filled with people I genuinely like.

You have heard of Stephanie Meyer, right? She’s a mom who doesn’t live on either coast that grew up reading Jane Austen but likes Orson Scott Card, too.

Oh yeah, she wrote this small little book called Twilight, as well. Anyway, I wonder if there is something she can teach us about what it means to be a writer? After all, anybody who can get teens to line up in front of bookstores waiting for the stroke of midnight to hit so that they can get their hands on their latest 700 page release (no pictures, either) might have something valuable to say about the act of writing for young adults, no?

Here’s what she said about what’s next for her?

Is it the purchase of a private island? A yachting trip around the globe? Perhaps she wants to buy an NFL football team? (Okay, I am projecting here.) So, what’s next for someone with the immense success of Stephanie Meyer in their back pocket?

Well, more writing, of course. She says…

I plan to then write Midnight Sun, which is Twilight told from Edward’s perspective. After that, I may write some sequels for The Host, or a may pull another outline from my files to play with. I won’t stop writing; there are too many stories I want to tell.

For writers, the joy is in the work. There is almost no real end goal, no one book that ever gets completed so that, “Well, that’s enough… I’ve done all there is I want to do.”

If there’s still ink the pen, writers want to write. Teachers are kind of like that as well. I mean we never say, “Well, Jimmy now knows how to align his subjects with his verbs so my work in this profession is done.”

We look for more ways to work with Jimmy. Or Janet or Cindy or Michael or Todd.

Cause there is always more to do when the work you are doing is meaningful.

Make your work meaningful and your job won’t really feel like a job at all… but rather it will feel like an aspect of your personhood that resonates with purpose.

That’s may sound all new age and flakey but it’s not. It’s what makes getting up in the morning – at least, for me – feel rewarding instead of dreadful.