Brazos Launch

Last Thursday was the first book launch for Sweet Land of Bigamy. The audience was full in all the right ways: family and old friends mingling with new friends, friends I hadn’t seen in years, friends who were once students, and friends I hadn’t seen in so long I never would have suspected they would come out to see me. There was a sizable group of people I’d never met before, too, and that was surprising and exciting in totally different ways.  Brazos sold all but four of the 60 books they’d purchased, too!  For this inkling of a moment I tasted like what the famous must feel all the time.

The whole event reminded me a lot of my wedding, in this way: all those faces of people I wanted to talk to and catch up with, but I was too busy signing books to get to chat! Probably the only day in my life I’ll have that problem — the debut of my debut novel in the city I live in — but it was glorious to have the problem at least for a second.

The energy in the room was amazing,and everybody laughed when they were supposed to, and nobody looked bored out of their minds. And the Q&A was actually fun. It went smashingly.

The only problems I really had were in the signing of books themselves. First of all, I can’t sign my name the same way twice. Second, I am incapable of scrawling the same thing on everybody’s book, so I had to think of something for everybody. And this caused the third glitch: right after the first book I signed, I overheard somebody say, “There’s no way we’ll get through this line if she goes that slow.” So when my friend Tom came second, I told him I’d just sign my name, and I’d sign something more personal later. But then I couldn’t stick to that, so poor Tom was the lone person unsigned, thrown under the doubting-myself-bus!