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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Book Launch Dance Party!

On Wednesday, October 7th, I had the honor of being asked to speak at a local library about my writing journey. Afterward, I had the further delight of getting to go out with friends for margaritas! What a wonderful group!!
(pictured left to right: me, Janice, Ann, Anne, Heather, Karen, Sarah, Lisa, Erica and Joyce)


But the fun for the week was just getting started. Yesterday, October 10th, was my first big book signing! It's been in the works for months, so it was exciting to finally have a chance to launch the book officially...and to do it with a bona fide 1980s soundtrack! I brought my old boombox and a bunch of "The Best of the '80s" CDs to Borders, where we were greeted by the lovely Pamela Kramer (pictured below). We let the music play, munched on cookies and chitchatted. I got to sign lots of books and talk for a couple of hours with friends old and new. Below are just a few of the many photos we took!
(pictured: Ruth Kaufman, me-->seated, Jen Stevenson, June Sproat, Erica O'Rourke and Borders bookseller Pamela Kramer)


My high-school friend Erika surprised me by driving down from Wisconsin for a visit!! (left)

I had the chance to see Simone Elkeles and Kelly Farmer, too, who are writing friends from my very first weeks in RWA. I met them both 7 years ago... (right)

My friend Pam from my teaching days popped by to see me as well! (left)

And here are writing friends Eliza Evans, Karen Dale Harris and Simone Elkeles. Fabulous smiles! (right)

Finally, the photo below includes many amazing members of the Chicago-North RWA who took time out of their weekend to celebrate with me. Thanks to Erica, Heather, June, Simone, Karen, Pamala, Ruth and Jen!


Whew! I feel a bit like a bride post-wedding... It's hard to believe an event I'd planned for and waited to arrive for so long has finally come and gone. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and to all who sent me congratulations cards and emails. You helped to make these past couple of weeks very, very exciting. :-)

12 comments:

Maria Geraci said...

Looks like a total blast! Love all the pictures:)

Pamela Cayne said...

What a great party--you have such a wonderful support group! Congrats!

Pamala Knight said...

It was great seeing you and getting my very own personalized copy of the book. I hope there are many more signings planned for ACCORDING TO JANE.

Eliza Evans said...

It was a lovely party, Marilyn, and I was so pleased to see people snatch up most of the copies of Jane that you had available.

June said...

Marilyn, It was a great book launch! I had a wonderful time and it was so nice to be able to share such an important event with you!! I am so excited!!!

Best,
June

Nancy J. Parra said...

Great pictures!! Glad you had so much fun. May you keep on selling!

Marilyn Brant said...

Thank you, Ladies!! It really was fun and, I'll admit, a bit of a relief that I survived the actual launch week (there were moments I wasn't sure everything would get done :)--so thanks so much for making it so.

Also, I had something extra exciting to look forward to afterward--my brother picked me up and took me to the Rob Thomas concert for an added celebration! To get to sign books AND get to dance to "Smooth" in the same day was pretty awesome...

Unknown said...

It was great to see you behind that table, colorful pens in hand! So glad I've met you through RWA!

Wilma Frana said...

It's nice to have such great friends.

Anonymous said...

It looked like you had a lot of fun.

Robin said...

Thanks for sharing pictures, Marilyn! I'm so glad you had such a great experience! And how lucky you are to have all that support. I was (and still am) with you in spirit!

Congrats and I hope this week offers fun too.

Marilyn Brant said...

Heather, Wilma, Patsy and Robin~Thanks!! It was definitely a memorable day! :)