… look like this:

Our boardroom looks like this:

 and this:

I saw this article by Robert McCrum at the weekend which got me thinking a bit more about e-readers.  I have to say that no-one has ever asked us if they can buy a title as an e-book I would think that it’s unlikely in a children’s bookshop.  However, although I am firmly wedded to paper [...]

I’ve just finished the company annual accounts for the tax man.  I’ve done all my sums and they all add up and I’ve typed it all into the template document and it still all adds up and whilst obviously disappointed by the cheque I need to send to Mr Darling I am nonetheless pleased that [...]

A couple of new links that might be of interest to readers have been added over there on the right.
Lost in Fiction is a new independent bookshop on Glasgow’s Byres Road.  Gill and I are planning a trip out to Glasgow soon to spy on other bookshops etc and we’ll be heading along to this [...]

Obviously, being the new year and all, you’ll be impatient to find out what gems we’ll be liberating from out-of-print loneliness and bringing them back to loving readers old and new.  Well, if not exactly impatient, I hope you can summon up at least a modicum of interest.  Please?  Go on, we’re a needy bunch [...]

Every Hogmanay we usually end up thinking about the business, the year we’ve just had and what we hope and plan to do in the forthcoming 12 months.  Actually, I should point out that we don’t generally do this on Hogmanay itself:  that’s for having fun and celebrating and champagne and first-footing.  But a day [...]

We have this fabby new page to go up on the website which will contain all sorts of fun stuff such as photos from events, interviews with authors etc.  At the moment it mainly contains podcasts from the Neil Gaiman event back in October – you can hear Neil reading from The Graveyard Book and the Q&A [...]

is the boast of the web application write or die that I’ve just stumbled across.  It aims to put the “prod into productivity”, by providing a tangible consequence to writing (or not) rather than an intangible reward at the end.  After setting your desired levels, it provides a text box that you start your work in, but if [...]

As I never win anything, just let me glory in that for a minute.
Yes, on Thursday evening, the crack Fabby Fidra team of Malcolm, Becky, John and myself took on all-comers in the Publishing Scotland pub quiz and emerged victorious after a tense tie-break question (Q. Which is the only food that never goes off? [...]

I bet your heart lifted when you saw that post title didn’t it?  You thought ‘I wonder if Vanessa has anything interesting to say today’ and now you probably feel a bit cheated that you wasted a few seconds visiting this blog.  But bear with me.
Each week, the stock for our shop arrives from wholesalers and [...]