Launch Party!

Last week, Hope Is a Ferris Wheel came out!

Along with doing a reading at A Children’s Place bookstore and some school visits coordinated with Barnes & Noble, I also held my first ever LAUNCH PARTY at Powell’s Books.

I REALLY NEED A HAIRCUT

As you may be able to tell from the above photo, it was a fun-filled event complete with three boxes of donuts and a ton of flowers! And of course I wore my lucky cat socks.

There was a nice crowd, even! Made up of people I knew, but still. They showed up, which was really nice. Seated in front in the above photo are members of my critique group. Also in attendance were members of my family, some friends who had driven up from Eureka, my BFF Tessa and her family, my friend Amy (who helped me make my book trailer) and her family, some of my former students from the school I worked at (which made my heart swell), practically all of my co-workers (along with a couple of our creators!), and some other Portland friends and writers! I wish I’d had more time to print up the flyers I’d made and deposit them around town, but launch month had me pretty beat. Still, enough people came to the event that I think it was considered a success!

One thing I didn’t get to mention at the launch party was that I had specifically gotten donuts from Heavenly Donuts. Which, if you’ve read the book, is a phrase Star and her family use often. It was such a good tie-in! HOW COULD I NOT MENTION IT.

I must have been too excited by the fact that my critique friend, Barbara, brought me an actual working toy Ferris wheel to display! (You can see it in the background of the following photo.)

There are a lot of posts I need to make, about books I’ve read and places I’ve been and things I’ve done, and I hope to post them soon. But for now, here’s this, at least: A record of a great launch party.

Thanks to everyone who made it out!