To launch or not to launch?

I wondered whether to even have a book launch for Long Bay – with the first book it seems mandatory, but second time around you wonder if it is a little self-indulgent. Book launches used to be covered by publishers, but now it is generally the author’s responsibility. Which explains the absence of champagne magnums and shirtless waiters. In the end, I decided it would be worthwhile because so many people helped me with the research and stories behind Long Bay and it would be a chance to have as many of them as possible in one place and say thank you.
My PhD supervisor, the very talented author Debra Adelaide, did the launching and rather than have a traditional speech we had a short question and answer session about the novel, and a brief reading where I also sang – simply because there was a song lyric in the section I was reading and I felt like it would be a cop-out to speak it. I do not have a tuneful singing voice. I apologise to anyone who was there and has sustained hearing damage as a result.

I was particularly glad that the Rebecca Sinclair’s relatives were there – it must have been strange for them to have a writer take their grandmother and great-grandmother’s story and create fiction with it. They were very understanding and generous, which I was so glad of.

Then came the best part, the wine. Or not, if you’re sitting behind a table signing books, with adrenaline making your hand shake so it looks as though a six-year-old signed them.

There we go. It was fun, truly. My mother was visiting from the US and I think the best part of it all was being able to say thank you to her in front of a room full of people. Because we live thousands of miles (and even more kilometres) apart I rarely have that opportunity.

So launches are not so bad, after all. A special thanks goes out to my friend Sarah Rowan Dahl for taking these photographs on the night. And to you for reading this. Just be glad I didn’t sing it to you.