I have never had a week’s worth of posts scheduled before today. I’m excited for the series for that alone. I did that because I’m out of town for the week with my wife and as a gift to her, I’m not going to work on the blog. I”ll look in on things from time to time, I’m sure, but I won’t be doing anything until Saturday (and I’m only halfway sure I’ll bother with a Saturday Miscellany). It’s our 25th Anniversary this week, and I’m not thinkng about work or this blog.
So I put out a call to readers of this space to chip into a different kind of Guest Post series. The pitch was:
Think back to 1996. What were you reading? What were you writing—did you have authorial aspirations at that point? If you weren’t a reader/writer at that point, can you point to why? What were you doing at time that prepared you to become the reader/writer you are today? Basically, you and the written word in 1996—do with it what you will (heck, if you’re in the mood to write an alternate history about what could’ve been, go for that).
Obviously, 1996 was picked as the theme, because that’s the year I’m thinking a lot about this week. I didn’t expect it to be as pivotal for every contributor as it was for me, but one of my assumptions is that for pretty much any year, we can find some things going on that are part of the foundation for where we are now. And I thought it’d be fun to explore that a bit.
So that’s what we’re going to do this week. Yes, so we have writers at various stages of their careers, bloggers and a podcaster–but our common thread is the written word. And the influence of what we’ve read has shaped us into what we are now (usually without us realizing it at the time).
We’ll start things off later this morning with Robert Germaux, indie crime writer. Tuesday we’ll hear from K.R.R. Lockhaven, firefighter/fantasy author. On Wednesday blogger and podcaster Jeff Quest is up to bat. On Thursday, Ian Patrick Robinson—one of the best Crime Fiction writers around—will wrap up the guest contributions. And then on Friday, I’ll hopefully not bring down the average quality of the series too much.
I really want to thank everyone who expressed interest in this series—and for the couple of people who weren’t able to come up with something, I still thank you for the time (and don’t blame you—I almost didn’t contribute anything myself). But for those four who persevered? I cannot thank you enough—this was not an easy task. Each contribution made me smile and I can.
To everyone else who’s read this far, I hope you enjoy our looks back to twenty-five years ago as we stroll down Amnesia Lane…
that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
That I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to 
Grab a book, any book.
If you were to ask if I supported public libraries, I’d reflexively say, “yeah, of course.” What book nerd doesn’t? I reflexively vote yes on various bonds for them when they come up*, I use them all the time—and don’t remember a time when I didn’t (Literally. I’m pretty sure Carter was in office and I would have struggled with a Dick and Jane tome), when I have the opportunity, I can spend an hour or so just wandering around one soaking in the atmosphere. But it’s not something I really thought about—and I didn’t realize how deep my attachment to “my” library was until a couple of weeks ago.
