Observations: I really liked the premise of the uncle looking for Nancy Drew books for his niece. I went through a Nancy Drew period when I was in sixth grade. My teacher had quite a collection in the classroom library. I don't think I ever read them all.
I liked the description of the weather. It made me feel like I was in someplace that gets snow. (I live in Southern California. LOL)
I did get pulled out of the story a couple of times. From a safety standpoint, it's not wise to display last names on nametags. I have to wear a nametag at work and honestly, it sometimes creeps me out when complete strangers use my name and act as if we're friends. I also wondered how she would order books if the entire store ran on donations.
But other than that, I liked the bookending of her dismissing the self-help book at the beginning and her revisiting that decision at the end. Sometimes bookending can appear forced. This one didn't.
Photo by Shawn Rossi via Flickr CC license
4 comments:
Kate, I met Nancy Drew in fourth grade and read every one I could get my hands on. I even volunteered at the library. I knew when the latest book came in.
It didn't pull me out of the story, but I agree about the name tag. Everyone I've ever had only listed my first name, at least until my first RWA conference.
I like this story a lot.
This was a fun story. I work part time in a bookstore, so I always enjoy that setting. I agree with you on the name tag using the full name. I caught that right away. I also wondered about the ordering part. A bookstore that is all donations would be the same thing as a second hand bookstore. I don't think those stores order new books. The person ordering could pay for it, but where would they order it from? Regular bookstores have a distributor and an account there that they order from. But I did enjoy the story.
Thank you so much for your insightful comments. I am still a novice at writing and was thrilled that Womans World accepted my story. The editors are fantastic and do change details and/or delete.
I do volunteer & now realize that last names are usually not there. Thanks for reminding me. I should have made clear that the character would help the guy order the books, not directly through the bookstore but on her own or with him. Great attention to detail. This forum is fantastic and I appreciate and learn from your analyses and comments.
Christine Hauray Gilbert
Christine, you're so gracious. Thank you for the compliments and for the great story!
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