Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Saturday, January 18, 2014, about 1 PM. The last attendees had finally trickled out, and after they did, I trailed behind them and locked the Library doors. Turning my back to the outside, to the Star Wagons, to the parking lot, I surveyed the empty lobby--empty save for my friend and colleague, Jo. She, like me, had waited until the Library was empty before breathing a sigh of relief and accepting that this Writers Festival was, in fact, a pretty darn good success.

We shared a triumphant smile and a weak fist-bump before wearily making our way back into the bullpen. The building was, for the most part, silent--the first time I'd ever seen it so lifeless on a Saturday. While there were several staff members around, we were all of us exhausted and preoccupied on our own individual tasks--that was actually how it had been for the entire Festival, and it was because of our preoccupation to our own tasks that the whole was able to come off so well.

9 months of preparation, culminating in three days of hard work, occasional dull moments of waiting, and a feeling of satisfaction at the end--yes, our First Writers Summit felt a lot to me like labor. One of my colleagues told me that he wanted to award our new accountant the award for "acting the most like Melissa"--but seeing as how this same accountant was everywhere, doing everything, I'll take it as a compliment. At one point, our colleagues referred to Jo and I collectively as "Jolissa", and I ended up giving Jo her permanent superhero nickname: GI Jo.

In the hours after the end of the Summit, I found myself thinking, This feels like the day after Christmas. The library felt quiet and empty...and so did I. It was a bit of hell in the weeks leading up to it, but damn, now that it's all said and done, I am so ready for the next Writers Summit. With only one exception, the authors were great people--friendly and smart and funny and often humble and just about always appreciative of being there. I must always remember what a powerful bargaining chip a trip to Southern California is when convincing authors to visit in January.

Now, I can go back to being a librarian for about two weeks...and then we start planning for next year.

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