Release Party

I threw a book release party, and girls came to it!

Writing is lonely work. I don’t claim to have completed Lu without help – reference my Acknowledgments page in the book for further details – but in its basest form, writing was me choosing to go off by myself, sit my butt in a chair, and type solo. And in the years where I didn’t have anything tangible to show for my labor, the book itself felt as imaginary as the world I’d created for it, sort of like: “Yes, I wrote this morning, and then I went off to ride my unicorn …”

So, yeah. I didn’t talk about it with many people while I was writing it.

But here’s the deal. If you’re going to write, you aren’t guaranteed a thing. It’s not a typical profession where if you get the right degree and land the right internships you have a good chance of getting published and making a living. It’s more like you hire yourself without any money to pay yourself. You give yourself the title of writer, you find the space to get it done, and you set all the goals and deadlines. If you finish your book, great! If you release it, great!

Your chance of selling more than 5,000 copies is 5%.

So you learn to choose your moments. Because they are real even if they don’t translate to promotions, pay raises, or acclaim beyond your own glee over it all. Which brings me back to where I started.

I threw a book release party.

And girls came to it, and for a couple hours on a Wednesday night, I signed the book, talked about the book, and saw them start to read the book … just like it was a real book and a real release party.

Because it was. And so is that book, though it’s as pretty as a unicorn.

More pics on my Facebook page.