The DarkIsle launch on September 10 was a huge success…and I loved every minute of it! The afternoon began with myself and my husband having lunch at The Herald Cafe in the Mitchell Library. That part of the library has only been open since the start of the year following a major refit and is really nice. Quick hello to the cafe staff who are a fantastic bunch…so it’s hello to Marilyn, Jackie, Iris, Paul and the rest of the staff and thanks for providing such a great service. Also, quick thanks to Marilyn and Paul for their work at the evening launch, but more about that later.
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After lunch - which was really nice - we had a quick chat to some of the Strident team, Graham (my editor) and Alison (who does the marketing and organising of events) before Margaret Houston, the Mitchell’s Acting Young People’s Coordinator, came to take us up to the fifth floor of the building for the afternoon session.
The afternoon session started at 1.30pm, but around ten minutes before I was due ‘to go on’, the MD of Strident, Keith Charters arrived complete with the printed DarkIsle. This was the first time any of us had seen the book in its printed form and it was a really special moment for me. It’s really amazing to hold a book that you’ve written and see your name in print. I still pick up copies of DarkIsle so that I can feel how lovely they are and enjoy the thrill of having a published book once more.
Anyway, I couldn’t just stand around touching and inhaling the aroma of my newly printed book…I had work to do! Well, when I say work, I mean I had a very lovely hour reading DarkIsle and chatting to some very lovely youngsters from St Patrick’s and Whiteinch Primary Schools. I’d like to take this opportunity to say hello once again to you all and thank you all for helping make the launch of my book so special!
The evening part of the launch was held in the Jeffrey Room, which is in the Victorian part of the library. That’s the bit of the library I love the most because of it’s lovely design and beautiful stonework and wooden panels. The room itself was lovely. We had around 90 guests attending the event, including friends, family and others. I was delighted to finally meet Roy Fitzsimmons and his wife who both attended. Roy was the man who created the real dragon on Irvine Beach that inspired my book. A few words from Keith were followed by a few words from me. Then I did a reading. It’s Sod’s Law that when you do an event like this, something will go amiss. For me it was when I couldn’t find the section of the book I wanted to read…I had marked it earlier and put the book down, but I think maybe the book’s been knocked and the bookmark stuck back in at any old page. Anyway, it didn’t spoil my night and I just found and read a different passage.
I ended the night going to Sarti’s in Bath Street. For those of you who don’t know, it’s one of Glasgow’s best known Italian restaurants. I went with my husband, Keith, Alison, Graham, Susan (my web designer) and Caroline (who’s been selling the overseas rights of the book). We all tucked into lovely Italian food and went home with very full bellies!
I got to my bed that night around 10.30pm, exhausted, but very very happy.
Finally, just wanted to say a quick thank you to a few folk for all their hard work in making the book and its launch such a success…so, it’s thanks to Keith for signing me to Strident and putting so much time, effort and resources into the book and the launch; thank you to Graham for helping me put the final polish on the book; thank you to Alison for all your hard work in organising press releases and the launch events (I have two more to go); thank you to Susan for creating two wonderful websites; thank you to Shona Grant for the fantastic front cover illustration; thank you to Caroline for working so hard to sell the book abroad; thank you to everyone who has supported me when I was writing the book, particularly my husband, Ian, and my parents, Ian and Margaret; thank you to everyone who has read it and fed back such positive reviews!
As I said, I have another two launches to go - one in Irvine and the other in Oban - so watch this space for more details!