I’m a writer, reader, and librarian. The order changes depending on the day.

My day job (and occasional evenings) is as a “reader services” librarian at Seattle Public Library, the gorgeous 11-story library in downtown Seattle. My job is to help people find books that they’ll have fun reading. It’s sort of like being a matchmaker, only matching a person with a book. It’s a pretty great job.

I grew up in Cheney, Washington and went to college at Washington State University to get a degree in journalism. Years later I went back to college to get a master’s degree to be a librarian. Despite the fact that I’ve always loved libraries, it took me a long time to realize that being a librarian would be an all-around awesome job.

I’ve had a lot of jobs over the years, sometimes many jobs all at once. My first job involved a lot of stapling. I was 15.  Here are some of the jobs I’ve had since college: reporter, feature writer, waitress, magazine editor, author escort, bookseller, and librarian. (I left out the jobs I didn’t like.)

MEET MY DOG:
I talk about my dog a lot. A LOT. But he’s so adorable and has such a huge personality that it’s hard to not talk about him. His name is Owen and he’s a basset hound. I’ve heard people say that bassets are stubborn or untrainable, but I prefer to think of Owen as an independent thinker. Here’s a picture of Owen:

This is Owen Henderson. The dog named Elvis in “Hannah West in the Center of the Universe” is based on Owen.