My Own Mr. Darcy Launch Party

Once again, The King's English was the host of my book launch. This time it was for My Own Mr. Darcy. It was a great success!

Right off the bat, it was pretty exciting for me as my Aunt Lola and Uncle Merle surprised me, coming all the way from Washington just for the launch. Wow! 

The food was fabulous. Holly Frasche catered and she was amazing--cake bites in several varieties, candies, fudge, caramels. All DELICIOUS!

 So many people came. The room was full--standing room only and even overflowing into the next room.

Which made me very, very nervous.+

I read the first scene from Chapter 4. I'd been dreading the reading bigtime. What if no one laughed when I read the lines I thought were funny? What if the whole thing fell flat and what if my facial expressions made me really ugly?

When people laughed at the first funny line, I breathed a sigh of relief. All was okay! I wasn't going to die of embarrassment.

But I did make some pretty awful expressions. I tasked my sweet husband with the job of taking enough photos while I was talking that I'd have something I could post without humiliating my family. It wasn't an easy job. This one is as good as it got, but if I was making a blooper reel, you'd see some doozies! Wow some of them were awful. And it wasn't his fault.

Much better when he doesn't zoom in too close. I actually look really beautiful if you're far enough away.

Two years ago, at my book launch for Gifted, Bruce was in the Missionary Training Center and missed it.

Last year, at my launch for For What It's Worth, Bruce was in Taiwan and missed it. 

This year, he was here. YAY! It was so nice to have him here.

But alas, Veronica is in Seattle and couldn't be here. Someday I hope to have a launch with all my children present.

I was so excited to have my parents here for this launch. I really was. So it's ridiculous that this is the only picture of them. That's my dad in the striped shirt and my mom is in the green blouse. They're not even standing together. In typical Dad form, by the time we got around to taking pictures with most of the family, Dad was gone to the car. Bummer.

Not only did we fail photographically as far as my parents were concerned, I didn't get a single picture with my kind husband, who handles most of the dirty work so I can just look like an author.

Luckily, we got this one of him with Savannah, my patient cover model.

When my little schpeel was over, I moved to the Mystery Room to sign and the line formed.

The lady in pink came from California!

And then the signing began. 

 Cute Kate came with her parents.

My sister, Lori, brought her sweet kids.

Author and friend, Cindy Bennett.

Edonna, a good friend for many, many years, came from Arizona.

These are the sweet people who made long trips to be here.

 

My sister, Leslie, brought her son and her friend, Lisa.

  My son, Joe, found ways to entertain himself. 

  

 The parents of my cover photographer and the male model came.

 My mother-in-law (right) was able to come. This was the first time she's been able to come. She brought Aunt Carol (from Idaho).

 Savannah enjoying a cute little corner of the bookstore.

 Sharon, a good friend from Bountiful.

It was really such a wonderful evening. The King's English is such a charming place and they're so helpful and gracious! A special thanks to Jennifer who helped plan the event.

I'm still amazed at the turnout and the support. There were people who came from five different states--Washington, Arizona, Idaho, California and Utah! 

I'm including the notes for my remarks here:

As I've tried to prepare a few things to say, my thoughts keep coming back to Gratitude.

I have so many things I’m thankful for.

I'm thankful for ideas. I love creativity and am grateful to be surrounded by it. Not all ideas are good ones, but somewhere in the dozens of ideas that marinate in my mind all the time, there will be one that rises to the surface and demands that I pay attention.

I'm thankful for daughters, sisters, parents and friends who brainstorm with me, are my first readers and who push me. (It was because of a brainstorming session with my daughters that this book came about.)

I'm grateful for a community of writers who are writing books that are clean and uplifting. The kind you can share with your mom or grandma & your teenage daughters.

I'm grateful for a family that encourages me and helps me make time to write, who's willing to eat sandwiches if I'm on a roll and who pitch in with housework and laundry. I'm glad my parents are here and that Bruce is here (he missed my first two launches because he was on a mission.) I wish Veronica could be here, but I'm glad she’s where she is.

I'm thankful for Jina Jay, who came up with the perfect cast for Pride and Prejudice, a cast that was inspired.

I'm thankful for Matthew MacFadyen who created what is (in my opinion) the ultimate Mr. Darcy.

I'm grateful for Joe Wright, the director who knew that 45 seconds of one shot of a man walking across a meadow, with no dialogue and no switched camera angles, just beautiful music and Mr. Darcy walking toward Elizabeth, would be enough to make women all over the world swoon. It's possibly the best use of 45 seconds of film ever made.

I'm thankful for The King’s English, who has hosted two of my three book launches. They’re amazing and this little store is a treasure.

And of course, I'm thankful for all of you. I'm humbled and so grateful for your support.