Adrianne Russell

Ron Finley, a resident of South Central Los Angeles,California, was sick and tired of not having access to fresh food in his neighborhood. When he decided to do what humans have done throughout history and grow his own food, city leaders objected to his “unregulated” usage of vacant lots, curbsides, and medians. Finley’s recent TED talk on his plan to eradicate the food desert he lives in is riveting and inspiring. Since 2011, museums and gardens have been encouraged to join similar efforts through the Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens program, led by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and backed by The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Join a free webinar on May 16, 2013 to learn more about how museums and gardens can get involved.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to Campus Museum Week! From the comments on this blog, to those who offered their thoughts via LinkedIn, Twitter, and in-person conversation, I’ve learned that the issues facing campus museums are as complex and varied as the museums themselves. Yet for every challenge there is an equal amount of determination to help these organizations achieve their missions.

This isn’t the end of the conversation by any means. I encourage you to explore the resources below and feel free to share your thoughts and reflections.

University Museums and Collections Journal
Association of Academic Museums and Galleries
The Campus Art Museum: A Qualitative Study
Campus Art Museums in the 21st Century: A Conversation
The Future of the Campus Art Museum: Join the Conversation

When I put out the call for opinions on campus museums, I posed a few questions to get the conversation started. The answers were thoughtful and engaging. A few of them are posted below: 

What are the pros and cons regarding campus museums?
Pros: Funding comes directly from the university; Access to a large audience; Smaller staff is highly engaged with their surroundings because of their “umbrella” roles. Cons: Student awareness or interest is not as high as it could be; Smaller collection compared to larger institutions; Lack of awareness and engagement from student audience. - Sarah Ditlinger, Indianapolis Art Center

One of the major pros to campus museums is that they offer serve a niche. On campus, you can include things that the campus community is interested in. This pro ties into one of the major cons – people who aren’t part of the campus community may not be interested in the museum. –Sara Hall, Education in Zion Gallery, Brigham Young University

Pro: They provide a learning/teaching tool for any major within the Arts; Museum Studies, Art Conservation, etc. What better way to introduce “the world of Museum work, Gallery installation, etc.” than in an actual Gallery space! Con: Few may even know a Gallery or Galleries exist on campus, so while there might be amazing work on display, it is never being seen. –Matthew Mickletz, Winterthur Museum

How can campus museums raise their profiles?
First, you need to determine your target market/key public. As a campus museum, this will probably be students and faculty of the university. Something we have done is becoming active in social media, since this is where students are. We have “like” contests and activities that bring the students in. We also have begun working with faculty members who in turn have integrated the Gallery into their class. Depending on the museum’s focus, the museum could help professors teach concepts from their class, etc. –S.H.

What should be done to engage students, staff and faculty, and the community at-large?
I would also like to reiterate the value of having events. You could have a scavenger night, a date night, basically whatever that could bring people in. We actually were able to have a dance, tying it a topic of our permanent exhibition. It was super popular. –S.H.

How can campus museums respond to changes in how university and colleges are structured? (online classes, satellite campuses, commuter students, distance-learning, etc.)
I think getting the professors involved could help. For online classes, maybe part of a class could be filmed in the museum with the professor highlighting parts of the museum that he/she likes. –S.H.

What should be done to engage students, staff and faculty, and the community at-large?
In-house events, promotions,and community engagement that are directed towards the target audience and that appeals to their wants from the institution –S.D.

How can they respond to changes in how university and colleges are structured? (online classes, satellite campuses, commuter students, distance-learning, etc.) 
Work with professors by utilizing their collections as a contribution to coursework and classroom engagement. –S.D.

I think coupling the Gallery with programs and classes is big, along with…community outreach. If it is near a downtown or community as the larger of the Galleries I work in was, make it part of “First Fridays” or “Art Strolls”. Make them as accessible to students as possible; create study areas, promote it as a “quiet spot”. This might plant some “seeds” in the student body. Maybe start a Pinterest account with tons of shots of what the Gallery has. Facebook, a must anymore, start a page, tag artists, mention other galleries featuring an artist the museum may be featuring, tag people and places. While it may not be practicable, attempt to promote exhibitions that link campus culture and Gallery. University big on football? Have any old football trophies, equipment, plans for the stadium, old tickets? Might be able to get a bunch of donated things from alums. Encourage students to take photos at games and post them tooooo . . . ta da Facebook or Pinterest, linking back to the Gallery! –M.M.

Are campus museums necessary?
YES: Campus museums provide a way for students to easily access collections for little/no cost; helps students gain a greater understanding of culture, art, social and political issues, and etc.; additional benefit to classroom education. –S.D.

I hesitate to say it, but while I believe campus museums are necessary, I’d say most do not. When it comes down to it, physically they are necessary only to display old stuff, art stuff and sometimes weird stuff. Culturally, they are an outlet for inspiration, art appreciation and object connection to the past (of the US, the world or just the campus itself). I believe they are necessary as a learning environment/tool within the larger learning environment, but unless they are utilized as such, that doesn’t stand out. Unless the collection and museum is amazing, little revenue is pulled in from them. –M.M.

Not only is it Campus Museum Week but I’m also in Portland, Oregon, attending my first Museums & the Web Conference. The two events actually dovetail quite nicely as I’ve already had a couple of mind-bending conversations about museums embedded in larger systems and the potential for smaller museums to model for larger institutions rather than the other way around. More on that once my brain settles down next week! 

Today I’m sharing a response I received to the question, “What do you think of campus museums?” from Amy Smith, Geology Collection Curator at the Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural Sciences.

The current museum that I work at as well as the previous museum that I worked at are both campus museums. The previous museum, the Museum of Geosciences at Virginia Tech, is essentially a single room within the building that houses the geology department. The Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural History occupies an entire half of a building on campus, the other half of which is occupied by Human Resources. Both of these museums are fairly small, but can be just as effective as their larger counterparts (at the end of my stay at Virginia tech, I wrote a grant proposal that later awarded the museum over $120,000).

Ways that I find that small campus museums hold their own among standalone museums: 

1. Grant awards are not affected by size of the museum nor by its affiliation to a university, but rather by the community impact and application of the museum’s plans for the funds.

2. At both museums, I integrate state-level Science Standards of Learning for pK-12 students and educators. The CMU museum leads tours regularly, and includes interactive exhibits in the overall suite of exhibits.

Advantages of being a campus museum include: 

1. As a worker at a campus museum, I also the ability to match content to the needs of university students, faculty, researchers, and to specific university courses. I am currently creating a a geology teaching collection at the CMU museum that will support several Michigan Standards of learning, as well as supporting various CMU courses such as GEL130, GEL102, etc. Exhibits and collections at campus museums also provide possible homework or projects for faculty who want to send their students to the museum to fill out a worksheet, draft an educational resource, and so on. During my first semester teaching at CMU, I actually had roughly 70 introduction to geology students (some were geology majors, but most were non-majors) visit the museum exhibits pertaining to Michigan geology and create educational resources in the formats of their choosing (worksheets, brochures, webpages, posters) that could be contributed to the museum. The majority of students did very well with this project, and so as an added bonus, they gained experience that could be listed on their resumes as contribution to museum outreach.

2. I get to facilitate the professional development of undergraduate volunteers and independent studies within the geology collection at the museum at CMU. Due to the museum’s affiliation with the school, training and supervising student workers is a largely seamless process. The major of the student is also not a barrier, as the volunteer whom I am training is not a geology major (in fact, she has never taken a college-level geology course), and my independent study is a geology major. Both workers are constantly demonstrating their grasp of new skills within collections management.

3. A campus museum is another opportunity for faculty, postdocs, and other researchers affiliated with the university to showcase their latest research. Museum workers can collaborate with researchers to interpret scientific progress performed by people in their local area to the various members of the museum audience. Such a a contribution could in turn help the contributing researcher apply for grants and funding, as a museum contribution of their work would be a clear example of community impact.

The only tricky things about campus museums are:

1. It has been my experience at both campus museums that I have worked at that 9 out of 10 people, especially university students, had no idea that these museums even exist.

2. Faculty are so busy with the work they are hired for, that it is often difficult to entice them to work with the museum in addition to their established responsibilities.

Amy’s response hit on a topic key to my work: customization. Can campus museums react more nimbly to the emerging trend of personalizing museum interaction for multiple audiences: general visitor, scholar, arts practitioner, etc.? 

Today’s post for Campus Museum Week is by Gretchen Jennings. Gretchen is a longtime museum professional, having worked as an educator, administrator, and exhibition project director in a variety of museums – art, history, and science. She blogs at Museum Commons.

…museums and their staffs remain mostly timid. When confronted with public debate, we find that the most threatened have retreated….those who feel most public, and whose funding is most controlled by politicians, are most vulnerable to the pressure put upon them by the funders. That does not surprise me. However when the same institutions are led by courageous people, they create programs, policies and exhibitions that have led the world to change. (Elaine Heumann Gurian) http://name-aam.org/resources/exhibitionist/back-issues-and-online-archive

Adrianne’s call for guest posts on campus museums reminded me of something I learned while editing the Fall, 2008 issue of Exhibitionist (the journal of NAME, the National Association for Museum Exhibition), I discovered that when university museums are contemplating an exhibition on a “difficult” or “sensitive” topic they have some advantages over other types of museums.The theme of that issue of the journal was “The Unexhibitable,” and we had solicited articles about attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) to mount controversial exhibitions. Two of the articles were submitted by colleagues working at university museums, and their experiences inspire this post. You can find both articles, as well as the entire Fall 2008 issue, in the Exhibitionist Archives on the NAME webpage.

Jack Rasmussen, Director of the American University Museum in Washington, DC, wrote an article entitled “Botero: Abu Ghraib and the Economics of Censorship.” It describes his efforts in 2006-2007 to display Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s graphic paintings of Iraqi prisoners, inspired by accounts of the torture in Abu Ghraib prison. The exhibition of nearly 100 works had been traveling since 2005 to museums in Europe, but attempts to display the paintings in the United States had been largely unsuccessful. Remember that this was still the height of the war in Iraq. There had been a small show at the Marlborough Gallery in New York, which represents Botero in the U.S., and an exhibition at the Doe Library on the Berkeley Campus of the University of California (another campus venue!). Otherwise, though Botero charged no rental fees for the show, no other museum in the United States took him up on the offer.

Despite an initial negative reaction to the Abu Ghraib exhibition by the American University Board and administration, Rasmussen persisted and won them over, writing, “American University decided it could take the heat for Botero: Abu Ghraib if it could tie the exhibition more closely to the curricula of its different schools.” He continues, “University museums are doubly insulated from the inevitable political pressures that will surround controversial programming: there is ‘Freedom of Speech’ in America and ‘Academic Freedom’ on campus.” Rasmussen did face financial pressures, however. As he observes, most university museums are underfunded, and need to find outside monies. Rasmussen found a private donor, and there was no rental fee; nevertheless, the costs of shipping and display left his institution with a deficit.

And the local press was strangely silent. While the show at AU attracted worldwide media coverage, the Washington Post printed only a review by Erica Jong, who had seen the shorter New York version. (When I contacted the Post art critic about the lack of a local review, he said he had also reviewed the New York show and did not see any reason to write a second story.)

Andrea Douglas, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the University of Virginia Art Museum, contributed “Forming American Identities: Our Southern Legacy.” Her article recounts the considerable efforts of the University of Virginia Art Museum staff to create a series of exhibitions and programs that would allow for discussion and community-building around issues of race and discrimination. The University founded by Thomas Jefferson, with his own tangled relationship to slavery, and the city of Charlottesville, center of resistance to school integration in the 1950’s, appear to have a particular legacy of racial tension lying just below the surface of daily life.

The museum courageously decided to address this tension through year-long programming entitled Forming American Identities: Our Southern Legacy. Three exhibitions would be mounted over the year: The Legacy of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art; William Christenberry: Site/Possession (featuring artist Christenberry’s Klan Tableau installation); and The Dresser Trunk Project, 11 trunks filled with items related to how whites and blacks inhabited once-segregated spaces along the railroad line that still runs between New Orleans and New York City.

The museum developed associated lectures and discussions and made a concerted effort to recruit and train a multi-racial docent corps. This latter project involved a tremendous amount of frank discussion, the revelation of painful memories, and the building of trust between the museum and the local community. Although Douglas does not say this, I would venture that the university museum was perhaps the only cultural institution in this community that could have succeeded with this delicate project. Douglas goes on to describe efforts to travel the Christenberry exhibition with its Klan artifacts (displayed to show the savage and violent nature of the Klan) to other university museums:

We directed our solicitations to university museums, believing they would bring the necessary inter-disciplinary resources to the exhibition and were freer to engender conversations about race. However, may of the institutions we contacted did not take the exhibition, citing reasons such as fear of alienating donors; fear of branding the organization as controversial; or an inability to do the extensive community program that seemed to be required. In the South it seemed that displaying the Tableau could cause one to lose one’s job.

Nevertheless, a number of university museums, including Ol’ Miss, did take the exhibition, although it appears they did not attempt the kind of intense community involvement taken on by the UVA Art Museum.

You can read the articles in full at the site given at the beginning of this article. Reflecting five years later on the issues they raise, and on the continuing reluctance of most museums to take on crucial issues in our culture if they appear to be controversial, I think that university museums are in a unique position to tackle these kinds of topics because they have the following characteristics:

• The tradition of academic freedom
• An overarching board and administration (the university) that provides a measure of legal protection and moral credibility
• Availability of multi-disciplinary resources to provide context to difficult and complex topics
• An academic tradition of taking on complex discussions

There will certainly be difficulties and challenges in deciding to exhibit contested content, as these articles illustrate. But the authors and their institutions showed the kind of courage, persistence, and leadership that Elaine Gurian called for in the opening quotation. It would be wonderful to see more university museums follow their lead.

It’s Campus Museum Week! Today’s post highlighting the unique challenges and benefits associated with campus museums is brought to you by Cate Bayles. Cate is a graduate student and emerging museum professional hoping to work in education, public programming, and community advocacy. She loves learning about people, collecting blue mason jars, and consuming Swedish fish. This post was originally published at Cate’s blog, Fresh in The Field. 

Think back and remember yourself as a college student. Maybe you had a little bit more hair, maybe less. Maybe you knew exactly what you wanted to do with your life and maybe you had absolutely no idea! I remember myself as passionate and driven, albeit slightly goofy. I recently stumbled upon a New York Times article which examines the roles of campus art museums on college communities and it took me straight back to my first museum studies class. I was 18 and the professor was not my biggest fan – she thought that freshmen were too young to know what they want to do with their life. While my school did not have its own art museum, we did have a wonderfully stocked archive and library facility where I curated my first exhibit. As I grew as a professional, I learned that college museums have the power to play a formative role in the development of young minds.

As the face of education in our nation begins to shift towards a more interdisciplinary, participatory, and technology based learning agenda, where do academic museums stand? Commonly, university museums are seen as being oriented too much towards the art world and not in line with the academy, but an increasing number of art museums are embedding themselves in the curriculum of their host institutions. For two interesting reports on the subject, check out “The Campus Art Museum: A Qualitative Study,” which was published by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in October and “Campus Art Museums in the 21st Century: A Conversation,” put out by the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago.

When I look back on college – I think of questions. Lots and lots of questions. I questioned everything from what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing to how I fit into the norms of society to what I was going to eat for breakfast! College museums are not only able to link academic courses to cultural ideas, they have the ability to be public spaces where dialogue can take place. They are not only sites of learning, but places of connection, creativity, and inspiration. Here are a group of people who are questioning almost everything about themselves – why not make museums a safe space for them to ask the questions and get a few steps closer to the answers?

Recently, I put out a call for your thoughts on campus museums and, as usual, you didn’t disappoint! During the week of April 15 – 19, I’ll feature the guest posts and comments shared thus far. I found the responses thought-provoking, challenging, and enlightening. Hopefully, you will too.

It’s not too late to voice your opinion! Comment on this post, email russell(dot)adrianne(at)gmail(dot)com, or contact me via Twitter. 

Since starting my new position at the Beach Museum of Art, I’ve had some time to ponder the unique challenges and benefits of working in a campus-based museum. Considering the studies recently released by the Kress Foundation and the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center, and a thought-provoking series of posts via the Center for the Future of Museums, I’m obviously not the only one giving this topic some serious thought.

Although the Cultural Policy Center’s study focuses on art museums, I believe these challenges are universal and it’s important for us to learn from all types of museums. The focus could actually be expanded to include any organization that houses and manages material culture collections such as libraries or individual departments like anthropology, biology, geology, etc. 

During the month of April, I’m featuring posts discussing this topic. So if you’re a current employee, former employee, student, instructor, administrator or anyone who works with or in with these organizations, I want to hear from you!

Some questions to consider:

• What are the pros and cons regarding campus museums?
• How can campus museums raise their profiles?
• What should be done to engage students, staff and faculty, and the community at-large?
• How are they succeeding?
• How can they improve? 
• How can they respond to changes in how university and colleges are structured? (online classes, satellite campuses, commuter students, distance-learning, etc.)
• Are campus museums necessary?

If you’re interested in contributing a post, please contact me via comment to this post, Twitter, russell (dot) adrianne (at) gmail (dot) com or this form. Thanks in advance!

Depending on who you talked to, last night’s Oscars ceremony was funny, crass, rude, irreverent, and full of surprises. Everyone would probably agree that it was too long. But the one thing that made my museum/movie nerd heart beat a bit faster was the blink-and-you’d-miss-it nod to The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Scheduled to open in 2016 in the May Company building on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art campus, the museum will take full advantage of its planned 270,000 square feet of public programming space to display the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ envious collection of movie-related artifacts which includes (among many, many other things) 140,000 films and videos and 10 million photographs. Now I’m even more excited about planning a trip to Los Angeles’ Museum Row!

 

Apologies for the lack of postage! Preparing for an exhibition opening, event-wrangling, and battling the Cold From Hell has worn me out. By the time I dragged myself home each day, the last thing I wanted to do was deal with anything else digitally.

But like a true tech nerd, I couldn’t stay away long. After a long weekend of recuperation, I’m coming out of my Nyquil-induced haze, excited about the digital resources we’ve amassed to accompany the Museum of Wonder exhibition at the Beach Museum of Art. The exhibition is a gathering of eclectic objects in true “cabinet of curiosities” style from individuals and departments all across the Kansas State University community. Adjacent to the exhibition is the Library of Wonder, a hands-on interactive reading room collaboratively curated with K-State Libraries, where the digital resources are accessible via a touch-screen computer.

Museum of Wonder thrills me for many reasons, one of which is the opportunity to see an exhibition mounted with minimal didactic info that encourages people to look, question, explore, and discover on their own time and in their own way. This can be radical, especially in the museum world where classification and categorization is typically the name of the game. No “Sage on the Stage”, no “experts”, no labels. Just you, your imagination, and a whole lot of stuff.

Museum of Wonder is a special exhibition honoring K-State’s 150th Anniversary and runs February 12 – October 13, 2013. 

Did y’all see? I changed my blog theme. Oooh, shiny! Let’s take a moment to celebrate, shall we? 

This weekend’s writerly plan includes a final read-through of HAPPENS FOR A REASON, agent research,  and reading.  Oh, and there must be tea!

What’s on tap for your weekend? 

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question. This Week’s Topic: What book is your ‘one that got away?’ (What book have you always been dying to read but still haven’t yet?)

L.M. Montgomery’s ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. I’ve always wanted to read it and for some reason never have. It doesn’t make sense, especially considering how much I adored the 1980s TV adaptation. Maybe it’s my affection for spunky, red-headed orphaned girls named some variation of Anne, but I love a good underdog story and this one fits the bill. I’m definitely pushing it to the top of my to-read list.

What books have you been meaning to read? 

I’m definitely a first-chapter junkie. I live for stories that grab me from the start and never let go. Some of my favorite openers:

From THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

From THE COLOR PURPLE

You better not never tell nobody but God.

From A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT

Someone was looking at me, a disturbing sensation if you’re dead.

From CHARLOTTE’S WEB

‘Where’s Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

The start of a story is where expectations bloom and stakes rise. It’s where characters are revealed and motivations are discovered. As Chuck Wendig wrote, “A good opening line is stone in our shoe that we cannot shake.”

Now how do you do that? Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not an expert by any means. And with all things creative, it’s completely subjective. But I try to approach my writing as if I was the reader. If my opening line and/or first chapter makes me care about my protagonist and want to know more, then I feel like I’m on the right track.

Favorite opening lines? Tips on crafting a killer intro? Please share!

The WIP Extreme Makeover is almost done. This weekend should be it actually. Unless Ragnarock destroys the Earth (and to find out why that’s on my mind go here), HAPPENS FOR A REASON will be officially revamped, revised, re-re-re-written, and resolutely finis.

It’s been a long journey. This story and I spent a lot of quality time together. We’re all bonded and stuff. But while saying goodbye is tough, it’s time.

Honestly, it’s not saying farewell that’s hard, it’s the letting go. Now I have to send it out into the world, brace for the expected (and strangely enough, desired) criticism, and hope that even one person loves it as much as I do.

And if I can find that one person, that means I’ll have the chance to make my story even better and I’m really looking forward to that.

 

Y’all! It’s been hectic. Lots of traveling for work-related stuff. In the past two weeks, I’ve been from one side of the U.S. to the other. I barely know what time it is or where I am. But it was so much fun!

The last bit of the month got really busy and as a result I fell a bit short of my Camp NaNoWriMo goal but that’s okay. I have a really good head start on a new story and that wouldn’t have happened without the support of my cabin mates and all of you, so THANK YOU!

Today’s also Insecure Writer’s Support Group, so onto this week’s neuroses:

• I thought about entering a cool writing contest, but the manuscript I’d want to submit just isn’t ready. It PAINS me to says so. Of course I was all, “WHEN O LORD?!” but it’s so close. Almost there! 
• I’m FULL of envy for anyone attending the RT Booklovers Convention this week (in my flipping hometown!) and BEA. Some day I’ll be able to scrape up enough cash to attend one of those things. 
• My writing time is out of balance. I didn’t write anything for almost an entire week and it’s left me feeling stabby.

Okay, back to the editing cave. What have you guys been up to?

This week, I’m attending a museum conference for work so my posting will be very sporadic. I’m still keeping up with my Camp NaNoWriMo goals which is great. I’m also glad that I have the amazing scenery of Portland, Oregon for inspiration. I love that it’s so green up here, especially because Spring is very late to the Midwest and much of the landscape is still brown and dry. Hope y’all are having a great week!

I’M THINKING ABOUT

• Plots. Turns out your stories are supposed to have one. 
• Revising. HAPPENS FOR A REASON is thisclose to being finished.
• Spring. Thank goodness it’s finally here!
• Gardening. Hopefully I won’t kill any plants this season.
• Sleep. Need more.

What’s on your mind? 

Camp NaNoWriMo is GO!

I’m so excited to add words to PLEASE STAND BY. It’s been taunting me for weeks! My goal is 30,000 words in 30 days. Totally do-able, especially with the support of my amazing cabin-mates! And since I’m a complete stats junkie, I was thrilled to see that this time I can track my words AND those of my cabin.

Now to write everything!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question. This Week’s Topic: What was the best book you read in March?

I read some good things this month but I have to give the “Best Of” award to Rainbow Rowell’s ELEANOR & PARK.

From the description:

Bono met his wife in high school, Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be, she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you, Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love—and just how hard it pulled you under.

Y’ALL. This book is a thing of beauty. As if the fact that author John Green loves it isn’t enough, Rowell’s story has humor, tension, romance, and kickass ’80s references. It’s hauntingly beautiful, every word carefully chosen and deliberately employed, with such spot-on alternating voice that I wanted to weep.

Four days after reading it, ELEANOR & PARK refuses to completely leave my brain. It’s just that amazing.

It made me feel like I could never write anything better, then made me want to write better than I ever have.

Thank you, Rainbow Rowell, for reminding me of how impactful a book can be. Oh, and for talking to me on Twitter.

@writersrepublic THANK YOU.

—
Rainbow Rowell (@rainbowrowell) March 24, 2013

Lisa, you AIN’T NEVA LIED.

I struggled with writing this past weekend. I fought the urge to start Camp NaNoWriMo early even though I knew I had a crap-ton of revising to do on HAPPENS FOR A REASON.

I got to Friday night’s #writeclub later than I wanted to and then pooped out early due to a Benadryl coma.

Saturday, I finished one of the best books I’ve ever read (No lie – ELEANOR & PARK is a life-changer) and immediately wanted to burn everything I’ve ever written and stitch scarlet I’s for “impostor” onto all of my clothing.

By Sunday, I was completely frustrated. So I surrendered. I stopped fighting for control of my story and let it run the show. Suddenly, I remembered that as hard as it can be, as much work as it takes to get it done, writing is SO MUCH FUN. 

Putting my MC through hell right now. I LOVE THIS. #amwriting #amrevising

—
Adrianne Russell (@writersrepublic) March 24, 2013