2024 Wrapped from the Writing Table!

I don’t know about y’all but I actually love the whole end of year wrapped thing (except my Spotify is a wasteland of Raffi and Sesame Street interspersed with Kendrick Lamar so it’s a little difficult to engage in that particular wrapped tradition.)

I love all the Best of lists, books to read filling my TBR with the promise of cold, dark months ahead and many evenings on the couch under a blanket with coffee and book. I love making goals for myself and re-evaluating the year. A nice, clean, hit-the-refresh button on life.

So that’s what this newsletter will be. A look back on my personal 2024, along with some of the “Best of” things in my orbit. Cheers to Susannah Felts, who did this on her fantastic Field Trip newsletter and it was a joy!

Onward to 2025, whatever heaven and hell it may bring. Now let’s gossip.

Bylines, Wrapped

A look back at my bylines of the year. Surprisingly, no fiction was published this year! I was off in book land for the majority of it. But there was plenty of journalism and essays. Indulge me, as I take a look back.

First up, the essays.

Trapped by my Book List, a personal essay for Business Insider on ditching reading lists and dealing with the fringe of OCD ($)

Two months ago, I re-organized my cloud account where the list was kept. I don't know what I did or how but the list got lost in the shuffle. I tried searching for it but couldn't find it. I sat back and realized what happened—I was free. 

I was free—and terrified. Overwhelmed with the enormity of choice. And with that enormity of choice, the imperative to consider all choices. To consider all possibilities. All the ways in which the world could fork into infinite possible futures, many terrible, a few excellent. This is what would happen, if I were to throw the list away. I would be confronted with the reality of life. I would be required to make a conscious choice. 

Read the Submission Success Story.

“Safety Net,” Longreads

To be a public servant in America is to contend with a fair amount of trauma. The institutions are collapsing, and public librarians, especially, have a front row seat to the fallout. Every day, the collapse comes to our door and sets up camp. Because when the social safety net fails you—and it will fail you—you can still come to the library. As a result, we librarians are armored up for a job we didn’t expect.

Recently listed as a Top Ten 2024 reader pick for Longreads.

The Bottom, Texas Highways

We used to get up earlier for this, but we’re older now and the herd is smaller. We’re down to 50 head, which is just enough to turn a meager profit in a good year, hay prices and natural disasters notwithstanding. It’s still somewhat a family affair. The new team consists of my dad, Daniel Kilian; my brother, John Daniel Kilian (JD); my nephew, Jacob Daniel Kilian (Jake); my dad’s best friend, Daniel Kasper, who’s just there to cut up and fart around; Ricky, the one hand who actually earns his 50 bucks for the day; and Ricky’s 12-year-old son, who goes by Hardhead. I assume this child has a government name, but he’s been called Hardhead since birth. The boy answers to it. It’s Saturday morning in Central Texas—time to work cattle.

Next, the journalism.

“Strike a Pose: Yoga for Young People, from Babies to Teens,” School Library Journal

Of all the magical story time moments I’ve witnessed as a librarian, the most mesmerizing was watching a yoga instructor quiet a room of 20 rioting, rambunctious toddlers with a glitter calming jar.

Read the Submission Success Story.

“Get Outside! Outdoor Programming for Tweens and Teens,” School Library Journal

The program doesn’t have to be complicated. Hit a trail, go to a park, bring a library book to identify native plants and trees. Reconnect with the earth below our feet and the sky above. Remind these kids—and ourselves—that the world is grand, large, and open for adventure.

DIY To The Rescue: 10 Librarian-Tested Passive Programs, School Library Journal

Youth librarians are a busy lot. Between the stacks of potential story time books, piles of yarn, construction paper, and googly eyes scattered across our workrooms; snacks for teens; and monthly reports to write, finding time to plan and execute great programs can be no easy feat.

Like a Local: Pottsboro’s Volunteer Library Director, Diane Connery, Texas Highways

When Diane Connery moved to Pottsboro in 2010, she was ready to retire. After years working in gerontology consulting in Plano, she just wanted to enjoy the view of Lake Texoma and live the small town life in the community of 2,873 about 77 miles north of Dallas. “I didn’t want to work, I didn’t want to volunteer, I didn’t want to meet people—I just wanted to do my own thing,” she says.

Work and Progress: La Grange’s First Black Mayor, Texas Highways

Jan Dockery is the definition of a working mayor. In addition to a successful first term as La Grange’s first Black mayor, she still pulls cashier shifts at the local H-E-B and takes the occasional waitress gig. “You can’t say I’m not approachable,” she says. “You can probably stop anybody in the city limits and ask, ‘Where’s Jan Dockery?’ and they would be able to find me real quick.”

La Grange’s Only Hospital Closed Last Year. Now an Auction will Decide Its Fate., Texas Monthly

A year later, the staff of St. Mark’s cobbled together funds to purchase a memorial paver in the garden to honor my grandparents. I never got a chance to see it before the hospital closed, but last spring, I visited St. Mark’s again. Peering through a window, I spied photos on the wall of my mother and other hospital staff members over the years. In the garden at the center of the building, I found my grandparents’ paver, broken and grown over with weeds.

And did you know I write book reviews for Bookpage?

King Lion by Emma Yarlett

Starred Review: My Daddy is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seales

Starred Review: I’m Sorry You Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff

This Baby, That Baby by Cari Best

Reading Not Required: Three Wordless Picture Books