My Big Pandemic Goal Has Been Accomplished

These previous posts tell the recent backstory.

July 2021 Update on My Activities

Late July Selling Update and Forthcoming Store Hiatus

Store Hiatus Begins Sunday + Thoughts on What I Have Accomplished

Right before my oral surgery, I worked hard on the room I call "The Library."  It is a small bedroom that was intended to be a baby's room by the builders of the house and is one of three rooms in my house where I keep my books.  Of the three rooms, it is the one that has just bookcases and an armoire and nothing else. 

Sometime in 2020, I decided that I wanted to thin out my collection so that I could get all of the shelves straightened in this room and all of my Bee Gees stuff out where I could see it.  This was a daunting task.  It took around a year to complete because of the immensity of the task and the fact that I took a seven-month break from selling in late 2020 and early 2021.  During the months that I did not sell, no books left the house.

When I started selling in March 2021 after my seven-month hiatus, I felt certain that I could accomplish my goal by June.  I later realized that I needed all of summer break.  I came very close to finishing on those few days just before the tooth extraction.  I stopped just short of completion.  That was three weeks ago.  On Saturday, I finished.  

Since every shelf in the room is actually organized enough other people to see, I will give you a photo tour.  You would not believe the mess this room was in during June and early July.  I painted the bedroom next to it in June (see above posts), and I used this room for storage of the stuff that I had to remove from the other room.  I actually had stuff stacked three to four feet high on the floor of "The Library."  What a huge mess it was.  

I got that stuff put back in the other room and finished up most everything three weeks ago, leaving some disarray.  I got everything in order on Saturday.

I'm going to start at the bottom of a bookcase to the right of the bedroom door.  I will go up that bookcase and then down the one next to it, continuing in that fashion all the way around the room.  I did not fully crop the photos so that you can see what is next to each shelf that is pictured.  And I'm taking a deep breath and hoping for the best before I begin uploading the 41 photos to this post.  Blogger no longer works well with photos.  Ugh.

And the first four landed in reverse order.  So it's going to be one at a time.  Thanks, Blogger.  Your faulty new interface has made everything harder.

Remember that you can click on photos to see a larger version.

This bookcase has unlisted extra books.  They are in disarray, but that is the least of my concerns at this time.  My goal during the next two to three months is not to place any of my unlisted extra books in boxes before I get my stores reopened.

These are more unlisted extra books.

The below photo shows more unlisted extra books.  Yes, I did actually purchase 10 extra copies of The Dana Girls Guide.  I did it for the collectors who don't know about the guide and will be upset in a few years when they learn that they missed out with no copies available.  I got 10 more printed that would not have been printed otherwise.  

This next photo shows a wall-mounted shelf with Linda Carlton, Mildred Wirt, and some other A. L. Burt books.  Sometimes concern is expressed about wall-mounted shelves.  The supports are screwed into the studs and have been in place for over 20 years with the weight of the books on them.  The shelves are not going to fall.

Here you can see some of my Christopher Pike books and the beginning of my Bee Gees display. 

Here are my Beverly Gray books and my Dana Girls picture cover books.  I sold most of my white spine Dana Girls set this summer, leaving just #14 through #17.  Beverly Gray at the World's Fair is out of order behind the others to prevent fading of the dust jacket.

My Nancy Drew Her Interactive games can be seen at the upper left edge of this next photo.  International Judy Bolton editions, Norwegian Connie Blair books, and some Japanese Nancy Drew books are on this shelf as well.  The Danish Judy Bolton books are my favorites and are in the front.  The shelf below has the Nancy Drew Twin Thriller editions.

These shelves contain series book guides and fanzines, including The Sleuth, Yellowback Library, The Whispered Watchword, and Mystery and Adventure Series Review.

The next photo shows what is on top of the armoire.  My Outdoor Girls books were shelved here for around 15 years.  This is where I have my main Bee Gees display.  I have three puzzles, a backpack, a microphone, the fan club folder, an unused school folder, an unused spiral notebook, and assorted other fun stuff.

Here is another view.

This is the first photo of the upper shelves with the Christopher Pike books and Bee Gees lunchboxes.  My Nancy Drew Files, Wildfire teen romance books, and other teen books are shelved behind them.

This is another photo showing more Pike books and Bee Gees stuff.

And this is another photo. 

This is where I moved my Outdoor Girls books.  Also shown are my Nancy Drew and Zorro lunchboxes.

Many of my library editions are in this bookcase.  The top shelf has my green APC Nancy Drew books and the 1940s Style Library Binding plus some thick library editions that are rebound early editions.

I should mention that I turned some of these shelves over because they have been sagging for years.  You might notice that some are still bowed upwards, but they are gradually bending down to where they are mostly straight.  After they begin sagging again, I will turn them over again.  The middle of the bookcase has a fixed shelf that I cannot turn over, so it is still sagging.

This photo shows more library editions, both Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton.  My Judy Bolton picture covers are hiding in the back.  I placed them there to prevent additional fading of the spines.

My Kay Tracey books were in the room that I painted for the entire time that I have owned them.  I decided to get them where I could see them, and here they are.

This is a closer photo of some of the Kay Tracey books.  This is a cramped area that is hard to photograph.

This is the first of my eBay shelves.  These books are ones that I have listed on eBay (in currently inactive listings).

These are more eBay books and items.

On the right, the last of my eBay listings can be seen on the top shelf of the bookcase.  On top of the bookcase are the rest of my Outdoor Girls set as well as the May Hollis Barton and some Amy Bell Marlowe books (ones that I liked and didn't sell).

This is an overflow shelf of unlisted extra books.  All of the Hardy Boys books that I didn't get around to listing this summer are in the back row.  At the bottom are Zorro comic books that I plan to keep.  

In this photo, the bottom shelf has magazines with the Bee Gees on the cover.  Right above is some extra stuff (Zorro and Bee Gees) that I will sell in the coming months.

My Penny Parker books are on the top shelf of the next photo.  The bottom shelf has the Augusta Huiell Seaman books that I didn't sell and my Connie Blair library editions and picture covers.

This next picture shows my Penny Parker books again.  Above them are assorted items that I plan to sell.  I will not be keeping duplicate copies of puzzles and games.  

These shelves are more wall-mounted shelves.  This photo shows my Hardy Boys books and below them are Nancy Pembroke, the Mercer Boys, other books by Capwell Wyckoff, and Connie Blair books.  Behind these books are Ruth Fielding, Girls of Central High, and Hardy Boys books with white spine jackets.  The Hardy Boys books with white spine jackets were placed in the back to prevent additional fading of the red shields. 

This photo shows the rest of the Hardy Boys, Christopher Pike's Spooksville series, and Merivale Mall.  Below them are Connie Blair books and some Dana Girls library editions.  Shelved in the back behind these books are Sally Baxter, Ted Wilford, Roy Stover, and miscellaneous books.

This shelf has some Bee Gees overflow.  The items include a mirror, which doesn't show up well in a photo.  The mirror is a carnival prize from the late 1970s and is gloriously tacky.  The bottom shelf has 45 rpm records with picture sleeves.

The top shelf in this next photo has assorted Bee Gees flat items that I would like to get into the armoire.  Before I can do that, I need to remove other items from the armoire.  That is a task for another time.  The bottom shelf has Bee Gees songbooks.  I cannot explain why exactly, but Bee Gees songbooks make me very happy.  I feel the same way about them as I do library editions.  

These shelves have my Etsy books (in currently inactive listings).

These shelves have more Etsy books.

Here are the last of my Etsy books.

This CD holder is on top of a bookcase and contains all of my Bee Gees CDs except for the boxed sets that don't fit.

These next shelves have unlisted extra books and items.  Some are items that I didn't get listed when I was selling this summer.  The rest are items that I recently weeded out or are extra books acquired through recent purchases.  At the extreme left edge of the photo, you can see my eBay books in a bookcase across the room.

Here are more unlisted extra items.

This is the last of the unlisted extra items.

This is my book closet.  At the bottom you can see some of my packing supplies.

The top shelf in this next photo has First Love from Silhouette teen books with Sweet Valley High on the bottom shelf.

On the shelves at the top of the closet are Nancy Drew library editions.

Here is another photo of the Nancy Drew library editions.

The top shelf in this photo has the rest of the First Love from Silhouette set.  The bottom shelf contains some assorted books, including Nancy Drew library editions, the set of Seniors books, some Sweet Valley High books, and the Heartbreak Cafe books.

That's the end of the tour of "The Library."

I have thought about changing which books are in the book closet.  I could move all the books in there for which I am especially worried about the spines fading (Judy Bolton picture covers, Dana Girls picture covers, Hardy Boys white spine jackets with the red shield, and all A. L. Burt jackets).  I could then hang a curtain across the opening.  I really like how I have my Sweet Valley High and First Love from Silhouette books positioned, so that keeps me from seriously considering moving the books.

I would never have been able to get the books straightened if I had not sold approximately 2,000 books during the five months from March to August.  A few people expressed surprise when I mentioned that I was selling certain books.  I had to get rid of desirable stuff in order to make way for the Bee Gees stuff.  I like the Bee Gees, okay?  They are just as important to me as the books.  In some ways, they are more important.  All of my books are great, but I had to let go of enough of them to free up some space.

Since some people seemed a little surprised about what I was selling, I quit giving any warning of what I was doing.  I put the books up on eBay and Etsy, and they sold, often very fast to those of you who were keeping close watch.  I'm sure that others would have preferred for me to have done auctions, and I would have gotten more money for some books if I had done that.  However, I didn't wish to mess with auctions.  I had to get the quantity of books reduced fast so that I could straighten up the shelves. 

I will consider some auctions once I resume selling again.  I do have some items that are special enough that an auction is the safest and fairest approach in order to avoid people getting huffy like they did when some of my listings were advertised on Facebook in July.

I will be writing another post soon about how I am doing after the tooth extraction and going back to work as well as my concerns about the current stage of the pandemic.