My bookstore and Harry Potter

As always, my bookstore is having a release party for the newest (and last) Harry Potter book. And I can't work it!

I love working events like that. Love it! But that weekend, my family is heading off to a mini-reunion, and I won't even be in town. Most people at the store are trying to not work that night because it will be insanely busy, and I'm disappointed that I can't work it. I've been looking forward to it for months, and I didn't realize that vacation and Harry were the same weekend until this week.

Maybe it's because I spent almost 5 years working in a comedy club (not on stage, but pretty much everything else), but I love the crazy-busy times. And the comedy club -- almost 200 people to seat, serve, and make happy in a two hour window, twice a night on the weekends -- yeah, busy. It's transferred to the bookstore for me, and I love working release parties, book signings, Christmas . . . .

I have a strange sort of employment status anyway. I don't have regular hours. I'm not on the schedule. I'm the person they call when someone calls in sick or when they just need an extra person. The last time I worked was April 12 for inventory. They've been saving hours so that they'll have extra for the Harry release and back-to-school, so I should be working a little more in the next couple of months.

It's a strange thing to be good at -- selling books -- but I'm really good at it. I think it's more that I'm good at recommending books though. The selling part is just secondary. My reading is so incredibly varied that I can recommend in almost any genre, and I can usually tell after a couple of minutes what kind to recommend.

We're doing a Clifford event in mid-July, and I'm working that, but I'm still disappointed that I'll miss the Harry release.