Watching the calendar
Every year I note on my calendar all the significant dates of the year when I might want to make some special themed releases, and every year I forget to actually look at the calendar, so I miss most of them. So I’m very impressed with myself this year, because so far I’ve actually managed to remember three dates for themed releases!
Waitangi Day I almost forgot (yeah, I know, you’re not supposed to forget your national day, but I blame the fact it fell on a Sunday so we didn’t get a holiday (which is dumb – why on earth do we get a “Mondayised” holiday for the queen’s birthday, but not for the birthday of our country???)), so I hadn’t prepared any books, but a quick dig through the boxes turned up The Captain Cook Myth by Jillian Robertson (which is actually an Australian book, but it was the best I could do at short notice). It’s since been caught and re-released, too.
Then, wonder of wonders, I remembered to mark my BC-versary on 8 February (I’ve been a bookcrosser for 8 years!!!!) by releasing 8 cat-themed books (of course): Cosimo Cat by Kenneth Opel, Mervyn’s Romance by Leone Peguro, Cornish Cats by Ian Heard, Ghost Cat by Helen Rushmore, The Paw Thing by Paul Jennings, Scallywag by Jeanette Rowe, Ming Meets the Farm Kittens by Audrey Tarrant, and The Tale of Kimmy-Cat by Enid Blyton. And a catch (and re-release) for Ghost Cat already.
And finally, today I released a few love-themed books for Valentine’s Day: Who Could Love the Nightingale by Chester Eagle (released beside some bird cages, so make it doubly themed – or maybe triply, given the author’s name :-)), Lovers All Untrue by Norah Lofts, Always Love by Emma Darcy, A Man to Marry by Carole Mortimer, and Love, Desire and Hate by Joan Collins.
(Oh, and the other date on the calendar I’m watching for has 4 days and 38 minutes to go… not that I’m counting or anything :-))