So it’s not news to you that I’m an indie author. It made sense for me to move forward with my work, and with the looming threat of the publication date above all the other things I had to prepare to get Missing Girls & Lost Boys to this point––the idea of a launch party seemed insane.
But we did it.
It was my amazing sister who encouraged (practically bullied) me to do a launch party. This kind of celebration always seemed like an event reserved for the traditionally published. But we went ahead and did it anyway. Along with the friends and family who had ordered the book, I hand-delivered invites only two weeks before launch, and the turnout was amazing.
We went with the black and pink theme for the balloon arches, decor, and posters. The hallway to the offices is a dark stairwell, so we had three projectors playing the book trailer into the space with the Missing Girls & Lost Boys playlist looping in the background. There was plenty of Prosecco and pudding to go around, and then came the awkward part. The time for me to talk about my book aloud. For years I have been self-promoting and posting my bookish opinions on TikTok, but there’s something crippling about talking in front of people I know. For my three-year writing journey, only a handful of people ever knew about it, so this was an almighty hurdle for me to leap over––but I did.
I spoke about my book, about writing, about my inspirations, and where I want to be in five years’ times. The questions were amazing, and I was flattered by the curiosity and intrigue from these amazing people. There’s not enough said for the people who support creatives in the background. Writing is a solo-craft. It can get incredibly lonely when you’re working with fictional characters in these worlds which need so much attention and mental bandwidth, but I would not have got to this point without the amazing people in my life.
Missing Girls & Lost Boys would never have made it to the page without the ones I love.
Thank you <3
