For those who are interested, the dental saga goes on. In spite of my excellent dentist's best efforts, the tooth won't settle down and I can't put any pressure on it, so its days may be numbered. At this rate I'll be mumbling sops of bread in milk - but should end up a champion gurner, so all is not lost.
A couple of weeks ago the entry pack for this year's Bookseller Industry Awards was included in The Bookseller. It's always salutary, as a cree-aytive person, to keep in mind the hard-nosed business we're trying to supply with 'product'. On the page devoted to Children's Bookseller of the Year, previous winners are listed: 2005 Ottakar's, 2006 Ottakar's, 2007 Borders, 2008 Borders, 2009 Borders.
Aye, and where are they now?
I'm really missing Borders. What makes it worse is passing the store in Oxford with its massive floorspace and all the lights on at full blast, it seems, since Christmas. Somebody said to me that this was probably about security but honestly, every single light is on - have they not heard of global warming?
Well done to Kathryn Bigelow for winning those Oscars and with a film that cost $7 million to make, as opposed to Avatar's $185. I was checking out the awards (and the frocks!) this morning and heard an interview with some chap who'd worked with her on Hurt Locker and seemed to be claiming she was so great it wasn't like working with a woman at all! How patronising is that? No wonder it's taken 80 years for a woman to win best director. Strikes me that the film industry is just one big 'who can pee the highest' competition anyway.
5 comments:
Sorry your tooth is still being mean, hopefully it's calmed down by now.
I was so sad when Ottakar's went. I didn't encounter a Borders very often, but I did love the one on Oxford Street in London just because it was so enormous.
I guess Waterstones are in for a lot of awards in the future!
Thanks for this, Denise. The tooth is now on the dental equivalent of death-row - my dentist has given it a month to calm itself right down or it's exit molar ... :(
I'm also a writer and teacher of English, so it seems we have something in common.
I was very sad to see Borders close, not least because so many people's lives were affected. Borders hosted many book signings for me and I met many helpful and friendly staff in different branches. All of them lost their jobs. One of the former events managers still keeps in touch with me. Like so many of the Borders staff, she was enthusiastic about her work and passionately interested in books.
I hope the tooth fairy remembers to visit you if the tooth comes out!
Thanks for stopping by, Leigh. Yes, it's such a shame about Borders - when it opened here in Oxford it was a vibrant and exciting place to be. Anything that limits our markets as authors has to be a bad thing. I hope the people who worked there manage to find alternative employment.
At my age the tooth fairy is going to need a wheelbarrow to cart all the dosh I'll be due!
Good luck and success with your book.
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