By Darin Overholser

Privacy. That's what I'm searching for. I'm surrounded by generous grandparents (whom I live with), cool coworkers and fabulous friends, and I'm searching for respite. I need time for little ol' me.

But I'm greedy. I'm an only child. Greed is part of the definition. I'm searching for more than I can probably ever have.

I'm searching for ways to become a better writer, to be better organized, to make my deadlines. I'm searching for love. I'm still searching for reasons why my best friend died in a plane crash nearly seven years ago. I'm searching for an apartment and the best way to tell my grandparents that I'm searching for an apartment without hurting their feelings. I'm searching for gay rights. I'm searching for the money to buy all my favorite DVDs -- and the time to watch them. I'm searching for the strength to kick the nicotine habit all the way. I'm searching for American dreams. I'm searching for peace.

A few minutes ago, I was searching for lyrics to Supremes' songs.

We've all got this burning, burning, yearning feeling inside us. We're all searching -- as individuals, as cliques, as a society. These quests for the spiritual, material and mythological infuses and ignites literature, becoming as necessary to writing as the requisite age-old conflicts: Man vs. nature. Man vs. self. Man vs. Bill O'Reilly.

To prove my point, Katie Gilligan braves mankind -- or rather the former professional wrestler once known as Mankind, Mick Foley, and his debut novel about life in the foster care system. She also searches for an outlet of expression with the Riverbank Poetry Project. Brad Quinn takes a Zen-like approach to author Brad Warner's search for truth. Catherine Walker huffed and puffed along a decidedly subjective journey into unique, lesser-known bookstores around the area.

Jessica Turner jumps on track with Angela Johnson and Loren Long's children's book of hope and history called I Dream of Trains. She also dips into the Well of Matthew McIntosh in which the author goes searching for, well, he just goes searching. A finder of lost objects and his unknowing search is the subject for "Almost There," Jack Kerley's winning entry in the Mercantile Library Short Story Competition. And putting his two cents in where asked, Jason Gargano calls out to lovers of the written (and spoken) word to search out some of the best stuff you're not reading.

In our lives, the results of our searches are a mixed bag. After all, you can't always get what you want. Or can you? If so, a little privacy, please.

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Trainspotting
Ohio author and illustrator team up to make Dream a reality

Bookstores Galore
An abbreviated list of other shops of note and what sets them apart:

Do Readers Dream of Sleep?
A semi-obscure reading (or listening) list for the artistically inclined

Well Enough Alone
Disconnected characters make light of their hang-ups in Matthew McIntosh's Well

The ExFoleyation of Mick
Former professional wrestler pins down surprising literary gifts for mankind

Down by the Banks
Riverbank Poetry Project hits the beat with an outlet of expression

Reality Bites
Ohio native is an ultra-man searching for Hardcore Zen

Almost There
Mercantile Library Short Story Competition Winner