On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

So there's this lady in Cornwall, Ontario who's looking to find new homes for a whole lot of books...and I'm thinking that I have something in common with her. I'm operating on a much smaller scale - for now, at least - in terms of my virtual yard sale via Facebook Marketplace.

That may have to change. I may need to start officially operating a second-hand bookstore.

One trouble is that I'm dealing with what I suspect is ADHD in my own skull, with trying to work out my housing future, and trying to get and hold onto steadier work. Also a tonne of other crap to deal with on an ongoing basis.

Another is that there's already two such stores within walking distance of my current home. One's operating in connection with the Ottawa Public Library. The other is one of the remnants of the Book Market chain that used to dominate the city. Both are swamped with product of their own, as Myriam Gaudet's Red Cart Books is in Cornwall. Add in the Chapters/Indigo first-hand bookstores at Place d'Orléans and on Innes Road and the situation is more complicated.

Third: I don't think I've got enough product to really get going.

Fourth: financial paperwork that might ensue? I don't even want to think about it because panic attacks.

Fifth: Pandemic.

So I'm likely to just add a relative handful of titles to my Facebook yard sale for now, and put off that bigger question to April. At the earliest.

One of the independent bookstores of Ottawa-Gatineau. We need more of them, I think.

Such is the case, now that I've read Rebecca Eckler's essay for the National Post, "What happened when my publisher ceased to exist".

Had I thought sooner than I did that the procedures Eckler outlines therein might be an option for me to pursue, there might be far more copies of The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City still "in the wild".

My apologies to everyone for that mistake.

I just got the word in e-mail from Leslie Wilson at WritersFest. We've lost the festival's signature bookseller, David Dollin. Some of you who live in Ottawa will remember him working for years with the local Nicholas Hoare Books location on Sussex Drive across the street from the National Gallery. I'd bought more than a few tomes from him in both of his roles.

Details here.

OIWF is hosting a Celebration of Mr. Dollin's life.

Since kradical accidentally touched that nerve today...

I'm still working on getting my own collection into a more organized setup, with three or four boxes' worth of purgeable stuff waiting for a yard sale. Maybe in the spring, I'll finally be able to hold that sale.

I don't want to deal with eBay because volume of material, nor with second-hand bookstores because the ones I visit regularly are swamped with product as it is. And the product's fairly diverse at those stores, so I'm considering setting aside a posting later for promoting those stores I've been visiting in order to help them out with "sell-thru" speed and getting some breathing room into their floor-spaces.

There's also a lot of stuff tucked away in other boxes that I want to break out of storage and re-read again. Sooner than later, preferably, in a number of cases.

Example 1: I'd like to rediscover where I hid my copy of FASA's Regula-1 deck plans from the Trek role-playing game.

Example 2: dduane's novel Doctor's Orders is calling out to my brain again...

A bunch of little things:

The Hallmark/Davis Agency store at Place d'Orléans Mall is shutting down after this week. Purged via rent hike, apparently. Not the first store I've liked doing business with to suffer such a fate this year either. Nicholas Hoare Books, Collected Works Bookstore and Mayfair Theatre Orléans both got nailed over rent issues of one sort or another. No conspiracy theory involved, but it's just plain annoying.

Lost a glove today. Probably en route to the day job. Recent and expected weather being as it is, this may not be much of an inconvenience, but again: just plain annoying.

Two of my friendlisters are down with ailments of one kind or another. Long-term continuing issues in both cases, let's call it. Hoping for better days for both of them. Soon, please?

Speaking of medical stuff: had you heard? Ontario's delisting the annual checkup from the list of medicare-covered services. Retroactive to New Year's Day 2013. What the Frak?

Cell phones: trying to check my account's status on the cell service provider's website is a bit of a pain. Long story, not sharing as it's too close to sleep time.

More as it comes to mind...

You've seen the CBC report. You've read the Citizen coverage, right?

Well, this is me trying to spread the word about one of my favourite hangouts in the city. My writing workshop, Pen and Paper, the one that themoo37 runs and a few others on my friendlist also attend as time permits is endangered. They're in need of a rescue and as they've been good to me and friends of mine...well, this is me looking for help in helping them out. Whether it's one big buyer taking over the place, or a bunch of smaller investors not looking to take over but to help keep a good thing going...I don't think it'll matter to Christopher Smith and Craig Poile overmuch so long as it works.

The store's own website is here, if you want a look.

Soon, please?

rfmcdpei posted a thought or two on the state of independent bookstores in Toronto of late, linking back to a Torontoist essay on the subject that inspired his own thoughts.

It's been preying on my own mind this past year or two.

In that time, here in Ottawa, we've lost Prime Crime in the Glebe, Leishman's at the Westgate Mall, and Sunshine Books and Canteen in the northeastern reaches of the ByWard Market. I suspect there's one or two other stores that I missed due to memory issues.

Like Randy and others have said, concern over box-store chains and online booksellers cutting in on the action have their place. So do rent issues. I have my doubts about technology making bookstores obsolete, particularly given my usage of that same technology to find out about books I want to buy through several preferred "bricks and mortar" outlets. Online booksellers will likely be my Option of Last Resort, and so far usage of that option's been pretty rare.

I will note, however, something within my own neighbourhood has happened that might create an opportunity for someone to reclaim some market share for the independent neighbourhood bookstore.

On the corner of Tenth Line Road and Charlemagne Boulevard in the Fallingbrook section of Orléans, there's a retail space that's opened up. Food Basics moved out of there a few weeks back, and the place is currently empty.

Here's a thought: that space is big enough to be subdivided into spaces big enough to not only support a bookstore, but possibly a few other cultural retail options as neighbours to it. Music, comics, magazines, movies on disc (or USB or whatever's next up).

Meanwhile?

To the best of my knowledge, Orléans has not had a locally-owned and operated bookstore of its own since Chanticleer Books at Convent Glen Mall went out of business in the 1990's. This is something that could be rectified, to the benefit of us locals.

Tenth Line Road is a major feeder road within the neighbourhood, linking Queenswood, Queenswood Heights, Fallingbrook/Pine Ridge, and Avalon. Four bus routes feed through - or near - the Tenth Line-Charlemagne/Des Epinettes interchange.

Problems and a solution in search of one another?

Carol Goar got me thinking about the idea of Tommy Douglas as the father of not just Canadian medicare, but of "cloud medicine" as a key component of medicare.

Linda Wiken, past owner of Prime Crime Books here in Ottawa and author of a new mystery or two nowadays, informed me of concerns re: a planned bottleneck in availability of Canadian-written mystery novels.

The longstanding fight between CBC and Quebecor/Sun Media is heating up again. I'll admit right here - once again - to pro-CBC bias. Without apology.

budgie_uk has got a volume of Fast Fiction out in the planetary marketplace, if memory serves me correctly. Having provided the occasional bit of inspiration for these bits at his request, you'll forgive me - I hope - if I take a little bit of vicarious pride over this state of affairs...and encourage you to buy that collection!

If you're in Toronto today, you believe in good public transit, and it's not already too late by the time you read this, you might want to hook up with this rally today. Never mind whether or not climate derangement's real, because my asthmatic lungs WILL thank you for joining the cause!

To elaynetoo: Congratulations to you and Robin on your 12th together as a Couple!

David Brin posted this link to Facebook on a proposed food transportation infrastructure idea over in the UK that looks intriguing, and could possibly be put to use in the Territories from Yukon to Nunavut.

More as we all jointly think of it...