I Finally Didn't Come in All Day so I Could Write our 5th Email Newsletter, Which Went Out Today.

I tried to break a record, but I couldn't even come close.

After 60 consecutive days or working at Boswell Book Company, I finally stayed away for an entire day, albeit to write our email newsletter at home. The last one I wrote in the middle of the night so I just came into work the next day.

I'm not going to print it verbatim here, but let's just say it involves...

1) a bird. One of our event write-ups was for Olivia Gentile's Life List, a biography of birder Phoebe Snetsinger. She's a woman who overcame the restricted women's options of the 1950's to follow her birding passion. Oh, and she also battled with recurring cancer. We're hoping the word got out to the birders about town. Gentile is reading her on Saturday,

Gentile is in Milwaukee with her husband, Andy Borowitz, who is performing with the storytelling program, the Moth. on Saturday night.

2) a frog. I'm trying to highlight the sidelines we get as they come in. Schwartz used to call these non-core items "non-book" and later on "gift." I sort of think books are also gifts so I tend to call them "stuff." However, I have a soft place in my heart for "non-book." One time when we were at something like DSW Shoe Warehouse (or to spell it out "Discount Shoe Warehouse Shoe Warehouse"), Kirk turned to me and said, "Hey, they sell non-shoe here."

3) an elephant. On the same note, I highlighted the fabric key chains I bought from Zewing Girl, after meeting her at Dwellephant's release party. There was only one plaid, and I bought it. Sorry, customers.

I am hoping to find more local vendors that aren't oversaturating the local market. Our photography cards from Sue Vliet have been selling very well, and we're hoping to restock soon. Thanks to Sue, and also Schwartz's gift buyer, for the reminder.

4) a giant doll. Another event. We're having Barbara Joosse on Saturday, June 13th, at 2 PM. Both authors have already done author events in the market so we're trying to do something different. For one thing, the event is being introduced by long-time Schwartz bookseller Sylvia Beringer Trewyn, once of the Grand Avenue, Whitefish Bay, and Mequon.

For another, Joosse invited Liam, the inspiration for Roawr!, to appear at the event. He'll be signing books too.

And finally, Skyberg is bringing one of her giant doll creations, the models for the book Snickeyfritz.

Those are 4 of the 12 pieces in the blog this week. It was a little long this week--I would have been happy with a newsletter half the size. And a couple of customers have complained about the two-column format. I'm sure I'll change it up eventually. For now, I'm just glad that the book jackets and photos are coming out less pixilated.

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So the email newsletter goes out and what do you think happened? I left off the titles of the new books by authors Agate Nesaule and Dwight Allen, who are appearing at the store on Wednesday, June 10th. I described the novels, yes, but the titles are missing. Unlike a blog, you can't take that back. I had as many people as I could review the copy, but there's so much to look for and we put it together relatively quickly...and did I mention, on a shoestring?

Anyway...

Agate Nesaule's novel is called In Love with Jerzy Kosinsky.

The title of Dwight Allen's novel is The Typewriter Satyr.

Here is Dwight Allen's profile in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.