How Glamorous is a Book Launch?

I love this picture I took on Friday on my way to launch Wednesday Riders and Fall Line at the opening of the Stone Heron Art Gallery on Wolfe Island, because it kind of sums it all up:

My dad didn’t live on Wolfe Island for very long before figuring out he needed a pick-up. This one is about the bare minimum you can get away with!

Things to note:

1) I drove to the launch in a pick-up truck.

2) I lugged my own books – you can see Fall Line and Objects in Mirror on the top of the boxes in the back of the pick-up. Appaloosa Summer and Wednesday Riders are tucked lower down.

Now, if you turn your attention to the reflection in the back window of the pick-up, you’ll note:

3) Me, in my Little Black Dress, perched precariously on the back of the truck taking the picture. This is also the dress I wore to load the books in the back of the (somewhat cobwebby) truck.

4) Our gorgeous, sweeping, St. Lawrence waterfront.

I like how this picture combines the sublime and the (slightly) ridiculous aspects of a typical book event.

For some authors it may be that book launches and signings are all glitz and glamour with other people doing the heavy lifting, but for mid-list authors like me, I think it’s fair to say we’re like ducks – staying calm on the surface, but paddling like hell underneath.

You may see me in a little black dress, smiling and handing books out, but you won’t know I chose that dress because it won’t show dirt, spider webs, or the ketchup that got dropped down the front of me when we stopped for lunch in Smiths Falls.

It’s fine, it’s fun, but just so you know, it’s not really, exactly glamorous!