Top Ten 2010 Happenings in the House

It seems everyone is making lists (and checking them twice) of Top Ten books of 2010. Regular readers will know that if we tried to do a Top Ten list of books for 2010, we'd probably end up with a list of eleventy-million titles rather than ten, and we have decided instead to make a list of the Top Ten things that happened in the House this year.

So we polled the Onions to find their highlights of the year. Herewith, in no particular order, the Top Ten* Happenings in the House of Onion in 2010:

1)

Watching Mr Badger come to life. Every time I read the end of Book One I shed a little tear - not because it's sad, but because he's just such a sweetheart.

2)

The occasion: Safety and fire-drill training with a visiting, smooth-headed, fierce-looking 'expert'.

The moment: The way he stopped short our playful explanations of what we would do if there was a fire in the building.

The highlight: Watching each of us wooshing out the test-fire with the fire extinguisher.

The Onion: Man, that was satisfying.

3)

When the printer monster took up residence in the office next door...

4)
The office doorbell sounds. The office manager calls the editor to say a parcel has arrived from the printer. The editor gallops downstairs and carefully removes the packaging.** And behold! The Museum of Thieves advances are revealed! Oh beautiful little hardback, wilt thou be mine?

5)

Ed note: In the fine tradition of flouting the rules of our poll, one Onion could not contain themselves to listing only one highlight, so we have accommodatingly squeezedthemallintogether to make them look like one BIG highlight.

Winning Publisher of the Year! So much to celebrate about the CBCA shortlist! And speaking of celebrations, our 20th Anniversary! Learning the phrase: piled UV. Applying the piled UV process to the cover of Museum of Thieves.*** Seeing Kim Gamble's illustrations shine in the C format of Great Big Enormous Tashi. That rather excitement-making moment when an author (and her book) we'd just signed up hit the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald and A Current Affair. We're looking at you, Rebecca James and Beautiful Malice. Welcoming into the House the wonderful team at Nosy Crow. The snort-inducingly hilarious Alien Onion post about cover design.

6)
That time the Cake-maker Extraordinaire made those macrons. I remember it as though it were yesterday.

7)
The occasion: a video-conference covers meeting with the team from the Mothership in August.
The moment: our CEO bounces into the meeting just as we are about to discuss a range of cover designs.
The highlight: 'Wait! Wait!' says CEO. 'Before we start, has anyone else seen Hamlet? I just saw an advance copy. It's spectacular!'
The Onion: *glows with quiet pride*

8)

Two dates were always bound to collide - the long-awaited occasion of us winning a record-breaking raft of CBCA short-listings this year upstaged by the arrival of an Onion grandbaby - now a voracious reader already at 3 months ...

9)

The Museum of Thieves book launch, down in Hobart, in the old and spooky Bond Store at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Hundreds of children. Lovely speeches. Stunningly beautiful *hardcover* copies of the book. And a delightful and delicious lunch afterwards at Sandy Bay.

10)

Highlights, so many to mention! But it's hard to go past Boori Monty Pryor's traditional Shake a Leg dance lesson, complete with gum leaves and singing, in the board room. The Onions ranged from very reluctant to very enthusiastic, but all got into the spirit of it!

11)

The scene: 6pm. A cramped hotel room in which two editors and an author are beautifying before the big 20th Anniversary bash. The peace is shattered by loud shrieks coming through the wall.
Ed 1: What's that?
Ed 2: *giggles*
Author: No way.
Ed 1 opens the door to corridor. Sounds get much louder.
Author: What if she's being murdered? Do you think we should knock?
Eds 1 & 2: NOOO!
Author: But what if we read in the paper tomorrow that some poor woman was murdered in this hotel and no one did anything.
Eds 1 & 2: That's a chance we're willing to take.

12)

And, of course, there was cake...

* When we say Top Ten here, we mean... well, almost eleventy-million.

** When we say carefully here, we mean carefully in the manner of a small child opening presents on Christmas morning.

*** We understand that those of you who don't know what piled UV is will be none the wiser, even after following our link to the page on our website. So let us explain. No, let us sum up. Piled UV is a whole lot of spot gloss on a matt laminated cover, piles of it, in fact. Still uncertain? Well the only thing to do is get your hands on a real live copy of Lian Tanner's Museum of Thieves and see how Sebastian Ciaffglione's gorgeous cover illustration positively glows with glossiness. That, my friends, is a whole lot of gloss in one spot. (Not so) commonly known as: piled UV.