The days since my book launched have flown by–perhaps even faster than the ones leading up to it did.* Launch day itself was low key and wonderful. I got a massage, spotted TAKEN on a bookshelf for the first time ever, and the Engineer and I went out for a nice dinner. My house was bursting with congratulatory flowers all week–from family and friends.**
I’m going to try to sum up everything that followed in pictures, otherwise I’ll be typing all day, and I really don’t want to bore you all to death.
I went home to Connecticut for my launch party, which was held at the local B&N. The staff there was super sweet and incredibly accommodating. They made me a giant book wheel for the event. Just look at the gorgeousness:
Once the chairs started filling up, I talked for a little bit–about the book itself, the journey to publication, my creative approach to writing–and answered a bunch of questions. (This was a smart audience with tons of great questions).
Here’s me talking about the book. I’m not sure what I’m discussing, but I do like how I’m making a thumbs up.
Then it was time to sign! This was my first formal signing and I was definitely not prepared for how exhausting it would be–mentally, physically, emotionally. So many old friends showed up. Tons of family members. A good handful of YA fanatics. My cheeks were aching from smiling, and my writing hand started to cramp up toward the end, but these are good problems to have!
Me signing, followed by a shot with my aunt and cousin, then two fabulous friends from high school…
Later, there was cake. And some drinks. And then me crashing well before 10pm because I was just so exhausted. But to everyone who attended the party: THANK YOU! You made my release that much more special.
The following week I had another small event up here in New Hampshire at Hollis Social Library. I got to meet some readers and aspiring writers, and sign some more books.
Then I was off to Dallas for Edgefest. (This is a huge outdoor concert put on by a local radio station and the lineup was insanely awesome: Phoenix, AWOLNATION, The Airborne Toxic Event, Atlas Genius, Youngblood Hawke, and more!) I spent the day chilling with nine other incredibly talented, fabulous authors beneath a YA author tent, listening –okay fine, dancing as well–to awesome jams and selling books.
Before the bands showed up and attendees were let in, Sarah J Maas (who was there as a concert-goer) convinced those of us already at the stadium to jump for a photo. It’s now my new favorite thing:
From left to right: Mary Lindsey, Brigid Kemmerer, Victoria Scott, Brodi Ashton, myself, Susan Dennard
This event was a blast, but once again, very draining. Especially because the previous night, Susan, Sarah, and myself traveled an hour to meet fellow PubCrawlers Alex Bracken and Marie Lu (who were in town for TLA) for dinner and drinks. Unfortunately, we got lost approximately four times on the way to the restaurant; every road seemed to be under construction and rerouted.*** We finally arrived in one piece, and then talked books into the very late hours of the evening.
All in all, it’s been a crazy whirwind of a week. No, scratch that. Two weeks. Nearly all of my May will be dedicated to finishing my first draft of book three, so you can expect a dry spell here on the blog.
But looking ahead, I’m off to BEA at the end of next month, and then kicking off the Young Authors Give Back tour with Sarah Maas, Susan Dennard, and Kat Zhang. Check the schedule, because if you live nearby any of the cities we are hitting up, I’d love, love, love to see you! And don’t forget–Tracey Neithercott’s YA Book Club is reading TAKEN this month! We’ll all be chatting on twitter on May 1st at 9pm EST with the hashtag #TakenChat. Stop by and ask questions. I’ll answer them as best I can :)
* It may or may not be scientifically proven that 24hour periods pass exponentially faster as a release date approaches
** Sarah and Susan both deserve best friend awards for being so darn sweet.
*** Full disclosure: I do not understand Dallas roads. They all seemed twice as large and twice as complicated as the roads back east. Thank goodness we had a GPS.
