For some unfortunate reason, many libraries are becoming increasingly noisier places, not at all the old “shhh” environments that existed years ago where wrinkled librarians waggled their fingers back and forth at you for even thinking too loud. Despite this change, there’s something about libraries that puts me in the mood to write, not to mention the mountains of traditional research that can be scoured up. This morning I was doing some work at a library in a relatively large city. I have generally found that periodicals rooms are the best places to get things done as the number of people that read physical newspapers continues to decline, leaving these areas the quietest. I normally try to write 1500-2000 words per day. Sometimes, hitting my goal takes as little as two hours and as many as ten to twelve. This morning I was off to a pretty good start, knocking down my first 1,000 in a little over an hour. That’s when I heard these two women talking to my left. We were separated by a book shelf, so I couldn’t see them. I try not to listen to other people’s conversations, but sometimes it’s hard not to, particularly in…