Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

I read the first four Harry Potter books after the first movie came out. I had gone to see the movie with my family over Christmas and loved it so much I knew I had to read the books.

At the time, I was working in an office, and when I returned from vacation, I mentioned to my coworkers that I wanted to read the books. Some others agreed.

One of my coworkers mentioned that he had all the Harry Potter books and offered to lend them out. So our office took turns borrowing his books, passing them along to each other as we eagerly devoured them.

For months, whoever had read them would gather over lunch break and discuss them excitedly, while those who were still catching up would cover their ears, hum and leave the room.

When I finished the fourth one, I couldn't believe I had to wait until the next one came out. "But that's okay," one of my coworkers assured me, "it's due out next year."

One year turned into two. In total, it took J.K. Rowling three years to finish the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But as someone with two unfinished novels biding time amongst my boxes of personal papers, I can't be too judgmental. Of my two works-in-progress, the one I intend to finish is on hiatus while I work out a stumbling block in the plot. The last time this happened, it took me three years and a life-changing experience to figure out how to fix it.

So three years to write an 800-plus page novel is entirely respectable.

I pre-ordered a copy of the latest Harry Potter book at my local book store as soon as I found out the release date. I got a notice last week telling me they were going to have a midnight sale on Friday. Now, a lot of my work takes place in the evening, second shift, if you will, so I wasn't available at the stroke of midnight. I called the book store at 1:30 a.m. to find out if they were still open.

"Yes, we are," she said. "But there's 300 people in line. You might want to wait until tomorrow." I decided she was right.

After four hours of sleep, I got up bright and early to take care of some things, then drove to the book store. When I got there, I took it as a positive sign that there were actually some spaces in the parking lot.

A sign at the front door said we were supposed to wait in line at the cash register to pick up our copies of the book. The line didn't look bad until you got close. Then you could see that it stretched from the register to the back of the store. This was a big store, too. One of those warehouse- sized ones, with a special children's section with chairs and everything. And a coffee shop.

Oh, well. I had brought my notebook, so I stood in line writing yesterday's Musings entry. While I waited, I impulsively picked up two other books in displays next to the line: The Princess Bride by William Goldman and You Back the Attack! We'll Bomb Who We Want by Micah Ian Wright. I had heard there was 10% discount on any book you got along with the new Harry Potter.

Behind me was a man and his 13-year-old son. The tween was far more patient than his father, who kept complaining that they should have ordered it over Amazon.com. The kid tried to make him feel better by saying things like, "I heard the lines were even worse last night, Dad."

Despite the media's characterization of the Harry Potter phenomenon as a children's fad, only about a third of the people in line had children with them. They might have been taking the book home to children, but I would guess a large percentage, like me, were buying it for themselves.

When I got to the front of the line, the cashier ran up my total for the three books. "$89.41," she said.

"What?"

"$49.41."

"Oh, I thought you said $89.41," I told her. "And I was thinking, 'Well, it's been three years. I guess it's worth it...'" I joked that she could probably charge whatever she wanted and people would fork it over. She smiled.

As I headed back to my truck, I passed a woman sitting in a car, behind the steering wheel, eagerly reading the first chapter. She couldn't even wait to get home.

The big challenge for me over the next few weeks -- with all the massive creative projects I have underway -- will be fitting in a daily Harry Potter reading. Last night I fell asleep partway into the first chapter, the book propped on my chest. It's amazing the weight of the 870-page tome didn't suffocate me!

But even a few pages in, I knew the wait (and the weight) was worth it.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson

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