6 Years Later…

Well, it’s been a minute. So much has happened in the past 6 years that it’s hard to list everything. Highlights: I’m now a school librarian and I have a beard.

I also know that absolutely no one is reading this so basically I am, quite literally, shouting into the void right now. How sad that so many people won’t know about my beard.

All that said, I am making an attempt to return to writing reviews in order to help people make a connection with a good story. As a school librarian, 99.7% of these posts will be devoted to helping the students and teachers at my school find a book that they can use to suit their needs, either academic or recreational. However, the stories I will share (and for that matter, most stories) are universal. So everyone, no matter their background, should find something here they connect with. So no matter how you wound your way here, welcome. I hope you find that the Stories Were, Are, and Always will be Good.

See you next Friday with an actual review. That is free of beard jokes. Maybe.

Slackin’

Hi all. I apologize for the absence of postings over the past few days. I was recently hired by a local elementary school to be their new school media coordinator and the changeover process has been taking up most of my time. I do plan on continuing with the blog, but it may be a few more days before regular posts pick up again. Thanks for stopping by! As a bookmark until I return, I present you with a picture of the best book I’ve read all summer:

Sara Pennypacker, my hat is off to you. This is some of the best writing I’ve read in a while. It’s one of those rare books that displays a true understanding of people, the things we keep bottled up inside, and how it comes busting out in awkward, unexpected ways. It’s also a book about connections and how we need them to feel alive. So yeah… read this book if you’re a fan of things that are excellent :-).

Beginning Top Ten-ing

Worst title I’ve come up with yet? Perhaps… Anyway, I was going to try and do a quick WTSG newsflash for my posting today but I couldn’t pull together any fascinating news at the last minute. Also, we’ve been somewhat busy this evening and despite the fact that I enjoy blogging, patrons take priority. So, for a quick posting, just to try and stay regular, I thought I might share my first Top Ten list. I was inspired the other day when I heard about this fun blog called The Broke and the Bookish. They do a cool thing called Top Ten Tuesdays where they choose a different theme every Tuesday and then fill out the list with items that fit the theme (all book related of course). The coolest part is that they invite other bloggers to join in the fun and post their lists to the site. This week, just to get a list out there on this site, I won’t be participating in their theme. Instead, I’ll simply post my Top Ten Picture books, since that fits the more

And then there are days when…

…you get paid to make a tree of books. It’s hard to complain about being a librarian, isn’t it?

Our Friends of the Library are hosting the upcoming High Country Festival of the Book and they needed a tabletop display for a children’s table. Not my most shining achievement as a youth librarian… well, not even top 10 (or 20) really… but it’s still good to know that I work at a place that appreciates creativity of the… leafy kind.

Just so you know…

Hi all! Just so you know, this blog was formerly hosted over at Tumblr as thingummywut.tumblr.com. But as organization became an issue for us there, we decided that WordPress might be the home we needed all along. So over the past two days- our “moving days” you might say- I’ve been relocating a lot of our old content to this site. Which is why some of the postings may have references to times already past or seem like there’s a wonky chronology to them. One thing’s for certain- because of this move, it seems like we’ve been mad bloggers over here as we’ve hit 15 posts in less than 24 hours. That won’t be the case anymore. Anyway, I just wanted to make you aware of this and let you know that, from now on, everything will be in a little more order, and a little more regular, over here at Were the Stories Good. Hope you can find some useful stuff and, as always, if you have suggestions for postings, let us know!

Working Title Shorts

This post is an old one from our old blog, but since I’ve been moving all our content from there to here, I just had to share this again. Fun stuff from fun people…

Friday, April 20, brought some fun and interesting shared stories penned by a group of talented individuals who are still trying to figure out what exactly transpired that such words should touch paper. Read on for the brief, albeit wonderful bits of wisdom which are truly anything but.

He Only Plays for Tips Now

There once was a creature. This creature was feared by all but afraid of all. Except for one girl whose spirit matched his own, or so he thought. He focused on her, his mind wandering to places it hadn’t ventured in years. For some reason, he found himself thinking of the time he spent playing trumpet for a cantina in the Bahamas. His memories swirled like the swirling voices of the musical group: his trumpet, a brash and fruitless love, the accompanying clarinets, the chatter in the café where