launch recollections, part one

on initially walking in to readings in port melbourne, it was a bit of a shock to see a whole bookshelf laden with multiple copies of my book (apart from the bottom shelves which still housed some jk rowling, but i had more shelf-space than her for sure!). i turned right to the counter, where more copies were stacked; it seemed that the staff at readings had propped them around the shop wherever they could. aimee had also made some a3 size copies of the cover, and these were pinned up around the venue, too. the whole place had been taken over by 'the bollywood beauty'. i was understandably a little jellified by the whole thing, but people began to arrive and distracted me from my own unstable state. so many people turned up! i am still overwhelmed just thinking about it. bob sessions opened the talking, followed by clare forster (who launched the book), and it was surreal to listen to the things they were saying and digest that it was me they were talking about. then clare called me to the mic, and i proceeded to thank everyone for coming and then two people in particular - clare and mark. mark tried to hide behind the video camera, but i found him! i walked off thinking 'you didn't thank aimee! you didn't thank cathy larsen for the cover! you didn't even thank bob!', but it was done, and i apologised and thanked everyone one one-on-one later. after that it was signing time... and i was there till the end. there was an actual queue. it was insane.

afterward, a small group of stayers moved on to molly bloom's, so i talked my parents into going there for a meal - luckily we caught their kitchen just in time. after dinner we had a couple of drinks, took a few more happy snaps and then came home. the whole evening felt like three minutes. i wish i'd had time to catch up with more people, to chat more, but i guess that's what saturday's party is for. i am so looking forward to it!