Margery Bayne
Bio
Margery Bayne is a librarian by day and a writer by night of queer, speculative, and romantic stories. She is a published short story writer and in the novel querying trenches. Find more at www.margerybayne.com.
Stories (16)
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If You’ve Ever Felt Bad For Being A Slow Writer, Read This
There is no denying we live in a productivity and hustle culture, where more is more, and quantity is often favored over quality. Even around the writing community you’ll see a lot of language around writing more, writing fast, and publishing frequently. Even fellow aspiring writers’ well-meaning updates on social media about how they have 3K word writing session today can put the slow writers in doubt: Am I doing something wrong?
By Margery Bayne25 days ago in Writers
Why Every Book Ban Matters
You may have clicked on this because you already agree that book bans are a problem worth caring about. If so, I’m glad you’re here. If at any point this article feels like I’m preaching to the choir, feel free to scroll down to the “What You Can Do” section for concrete next steps.
By Margery Bayne25 days ago in BookClub
Librarians Aren’t Just Old Ladies With Glasses and Cardigans Anymore: A Rant
I’ve seen the notion, with some variation on the wording, that ‘librarians aren’t just old ladies with glasses and cardigans who shush you anymore’ floating around the library world for a few years now. I get the mostly good intention behind it, but boy does it ruffle my feathers.
By Margery Bayne3 years ago in Confessions
Write More with a SMART Goal
So you want to write more. You want to write more regularly, write a higher word count, finish a big project, or form a writing habit. While it is a noble ambition that you perhaps resolve to do every new year or even the start of every month, it is just as easy to slip up and fail.
By Margery Bayne4 years ago in Lifehack
Five Things I Learned About Storytelling From Judging My First Writing Contest
Background: In 2017, I entered a Maryland-based writing contest and ultimately had my short story submission “The Pawn Shop of Intangible Things” place second. It was a pretty amazing experience that has involved an awards ceremony, a nice check, and free admission to a sci-fi writing conference where I read my story on a panel. Last but not least of all the honors, I was asked to be a judge for the 2018 contest.
By Margery Bayne4 years ago in Journal
The Not-So-Hidden-Secrets of Public Libraries for Booklovers
Public libraries are amazing institutions. You can check out books, use computers, and just visit and hang out, all completely for free. But many book lovers out there are not using their local libraries to their full potential.
By Margery Bayne4 years ago in Education
How To Read Like a Librarian
One of the responsibilities of your public-serving librarians is a thing called ‘readers’ advisory.’ Unlike informational or reference questions, readers’ advisory is for pleasure reading, whether fiction or nonfiction. It is our fancy library terminology for when a customer comes up to the desk and says, ‘Can you recommend a book?’
By Margery Bayne4 years ago in Education
Top Five Things I Learned About Writing Short Stories from Getting a Bachelors Degree in Creative Writing
How does the joke go? Who’s got two thumbs and an undergraduate degree in creative writing? This gal! So you do not have to spend [amount redacted]and four years of your life doing the same, here are the biggest lessons I learned about writing effective short stories from my time sweating bullets in workshop classes (that harrowing thing where everyone critiques your story to shreds as you sit there and just take it) and listening to too many guys play The Wall on acoustic guitar (a college freshman rite of passage for many, I’m sure)…
By Margery Bayne4 years ago in Journal
