Post launch/post interview/post weekend recap

Okay, I wanted the title of this post to be "Lisa Moore came to my book launch" because I could not believe she was there. Now, I think she was there because it was also Joan Sullivan's book launch for her great book Newfoundland Portfolio: A History in Portraits, but Lisa was there and she heard me read and I signed a book for her. She was very kind and so down to earth, even as I kept shamelessly fawning over her. I am very happy I got to meet her. And there were great other people I got to meet too, not the least of which were my blogging friends: Helmut, Trudy and Christine. It was so fun to meet them even though I felt like I already knew them. Trudy and Christine literally had bells on, just as they promised.

The launch was great--lots of drink and food and people. Great friends showed up and shared the evening with me which was wonderful. My mom and dad drove all the way from Aspen Cove to surprise me (I told them not to drive five hours for the two hour book launch but they did anyway--and I am so glad they did). I was slipping into a parking place on Water Street when I noticed a green Corolla with stripes drive by and I thought to myself, as I always do when I see a green Corolla with stripes, that looks like Mom and Dad's car, then I saw Mom in the passenger seat and thought and that is Mom then looked at the driver's side where there was Dad. Then I started blowing my horn, got out and ran down Water Street to meet them. I was so excited they were there. Mom said if you ever saw a forty-year-old running toward her parents with the expression of an eight-year-old, that was it. It felt like the evening could be perfect then with them there. They said it was one of their best days ever and, in great part because they were there, it was one of mine too.

Thank God it was a cool day because with all the people there, it was hot, hot, hot. If it had been a really hot day we would have roasted. The atmosphere was great, though, in the old building, built in the 1840s. Michelle and everyone at Jesperson really organized a fantastic evening. I could not have been more happy with it.

It was my first time meeting Joan Sullivan. She was very nice and made me feel at ease right away, introducing me to people throughout the night. Her generosity made the evening all the better. It was a real honour to share the launch with her. I highly recommend her book. I've been reading it and enjoying learning about so many great Newfoundlanders.

I did a reading and it was the first time in front of a mic. I found that hard as it amplified every nervous quiver in my voice but people tell me that once I got going, I did fine. Everyone laughed at all the right parts and many people came up after me afterward, telling me of their first time moving away from home or their children's first apartment (I read from the chapter entitled The Cubbyhole about when Lisa Simms first sees her apartment in Toronto). Everyone seemed to relate to it, at least the part I read. I even had people tell me that they were buying the book as a gift for a friend who is moving to the mainland for the first time. So things were great and before I knew it, the evening had passed (and I wished it could have gone on longer). I wish I had pictures but hubby was enjoying the evening and only took two pictures, neither is good for posting. Ah well, Dad took lots but with his "regular" camera and not a digital one so I will have to ask him to get a CD of photos done when he gets them developed. Trudy was kind enough to post one though.

I figured that I could breathe a huge sigh of relief once the launch was over but the afternoon of the launch, Angela Antle called me to do a reading for her CBC Radio show, that I never miss listening to on the weekends, Weekend Arts Magazine. I had to do that the morning after the launch so I was a little nervous about it but, as I said here before, Angela was so kind and patient with me, telling me I could read it over and over if I wanted. She then surprised me and said she wanted to do an interview. I'm glad she didn't tell me beforehand because I would have been super-nervous. As it was, I was pretty relaxed since she was so easy to talk to.

So, after the launch, then the interview, it was off to Aspen Cove and Ladle Cove for an extra long weekend. It was Ladle Cove Day all weekend so we took in those festivities, I signed a few books for people I've known all my life (very weird to do that), and we went to the Banting Memorial Park in Musgrave Harbour. The beach there is amazing--white sand everywhere. My two-year-old was in sand heaven. We buried each other in sand, made sand castles, let the waves chase us, it was a blast. You really should make a point of going. Besides the fantastic sandy beach, if you are a history buff, the park has a replica of the plane Banting crashed in (near Musgrave Harbour) and a Banting Interpretation Centre. You should make Banting Memorial Park a stop on your vacation next summer.

So, busy times of late and I am not complaining one bit. I hope anything and everything I can do to promote this much is true keeps me busy for a long, long time. In the meantime, I'll get back to some regular blogging, raising my son, some writing, some freelance work and writing a grant application for my next book. Oh, sounds like I'll be busy for a while yet.