Thoughts: Juggling Work and Life

You may have wondered at the relative drop-off in posts here at Librarian by Day. I had managed to get up to a good, consistent schedule of two-three posts a week, and then, bam, two weeks where I barely managed to get one post up. What gives?

It's a combination of two factors: one is Teen Read Week and all that involves. I had a major program last Saturday night: a Twilight Prom that was held after-hours at my branch. That involved a lot of resources; then, no sooner had I finished that program, I have tonight's program, a teen coffeehouse, to prep for. Programming, as we all know, is a big part of the job for any teen librarian, and with my schedule all over the place, I found that my time for reading got cut into drastically.

The second factor? I'm going on vacation tomorrow! It's my first vacation in several years, and while I am sad that it's only for about five days, I am excited that tomorrow night, I'll be flying to England. I'll be sightseeing, enjoying some theatre productions, and meeting up with various friends. I'm hoping to cram a lot of relaxation into this trip, and try not to think about my job while I'm gone. After all, a vacation is supposed to be time away. If I don't embrace that, what a waste of the time and the money!

There was a recent thread on YALSA-BK, asking how people manage, on top of their regular jobs, to read blogs and participate in social networking and use Twitter. As many people said, it's a balancing act, but it's not one that has to stay at a consistent balance. Some weeks, I'll pay more attention to one or two things; the next week, my priorities shift and I'm focusing on other tasks. Right now, my job and my real life has taken more precedence over reading and my blog. Once I come back from my vacation, I'll be able to adjust and get back to reading and blogging.

I have a few books that I'm halfway through, like Nora Raleigh Baskin's All We Know of Love. There's a planned post where I compare and contrast the female heroines of two YA novels. And I definitely want to comment on the National Book Award nominees. I'm even hoping to take a break from talking about books and discuss the Twilight Prom that I held at my library. So I'm not out of things to say: I'm just lacking the time to say them. I hope that once I'm back to posting more regularly, you'll be reading!