Things getting a little behind

... but only because I'm on holiday!  Meanwhile (to prove I take myself seriously), I've written and submitted an article to a journal.

Also made a debut in the THE magazine (12 July 2012, a mini-review in the What are you reading? column), and heard today that my first book is now at the editorial/production stage at the publisher's. 

But if you want to read about Karen the writer, there's more on a different blog - True Imaginary Friends.  Another of my identities!

Thing 10: Here's where I feel old

Thing 10: 

Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation

I can complete this Thing really quickly, but boy, does it make me feel old?!

1. Graduate traineeships - Exeter 1982-1983.  (Yesterday I made my apologies to the "other" Chief Librarian who offered me a traineeship back in 1982! We expressed regret at not having had the chance to enjoy one another's company, and pleasure that I'd got my career off to a good start regardless.)
2. I already had an MA in Music before my graduate traineeship.  (It would have been an MLitt if I'd done it later - totally by research, all 60K words of it ...)
3. I chose to do a Postgraduate Diploma in Librarianship because I already had a Masters.  Then bust a gut to get a Distinction because I didn't like the idea of "just" passing it.  Luckily, the gut-busting paid off!  Although I've sometimes wondered if I should have done an MSc in Librarianship rather than a diploma, I don't really think it has made any difference.  And for my generation, a postgraduate diploma was quite normal - getting a Masters  as your professional qualification was only just coming in as an alternative route.
4. Chartership - it saddens me when new entrants to the profession agonize about chartership.  It is worth doing, in my opinion - and it isn't the big ordeal some people would have you believe.  I started preparing for mine as soon as I got my first professional job.  Seems a long, long time ago.
5. Accreditation.  I haven't done this, as such, but I've recently done a part-time PhD and gained my Fellowship of CILIP, so I think I've demonstrated commitment to CPD!

There, Thing 10 done and dusted.  Back to that bulging inbox ...