Book Launch, School Presentation, Deadline!

Lots of blog-worthy news lately. Not a lot of time for blog writing.

Book Launch

My book launch, held on May 15 at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, was a huge success. There were more than 50 people there–far more than the 30-40 that I had guessed might come. I feel hugely grateful to everyone who came: my wonderful family and friends and writing buddies, and even some people from Uxbridge who read about the event in the local paper and came by to see what was going on.

Uxbridge Cosmos, May 13, 2010, first page (links to a PDF file of the first page of the May 13 Uxbridge Cosmos, featuring an article on Boarder Patrol written by Neil Coxworth)

Thank you so much, everyone who was there!

Special thank you’s to my incredible mother, who made not only the cake but also many of the door prizes, to Judy Diltz (“Aunt Judy”) for baked goodies, to Peggy Pflanzer (“Aunt Peggy”) for putting together a yummy cheese tray, to Susan Blakeney for delicious rhubarb tarts and for offering to drive my Toronto-based writer friends, to Marty Bays of MORTIS Photography for being thoughtful enough to capture the moments with his camera and for granting me permission to use the photos, and to Orca Books for donating several door prizes and helping with the launch expenses. And especially thank you to Shelley Macbeth, who let me use her beautiful bookstore for the event, who was helping for months ahead of time with the organization and details, and who managed to make a success of a tricky situation.

Here are some photos from the event.

Friends, family and readers at the Boarder Patrol book launch. Photo by MORTIS Photography, www.mortisphotography.com

My mom talking to my grade five teacher, Mr. Blackstock. Photo by MORTIS Photography, www.mortisphotography.com

Snowboarding consultant Travis Tedford with my dad at the book launch. Photo by MORTIS Photography, www.mortisphotography.com

Signing a copy of Boarder Patrol. Photo by MORTIS Photography, www.mortisphotography.com

You knew there had to be a picture of the cake. Cake by Susan Thomas, photo by MORTIS Photography, www.mortisphotography.com.

Apparently it’s traditional to have books at a book launch. We didn’t quite manage that part. The night before the book launch, Shelley Macbeth of Blue Heron Books phoned me with the bad news: the books hadn’t arrived! Between us, we managed to scrounge together 16 copies. For the rest, we worked out an advance order system. Everyone was very gracious and understanding, so even without the piles of books that Shelley and I had hoped to have on display, the launch was a success. I received the books last week, and I’m working my way through the pre-orders, autographing and delivering the books. So far, so good!

For more about the book launch, stay tuned for my blog post on planning a book launch, coming soon to the Orca Books Web site.

School Presentation

Three days after the book launch, I headed to Greensville School for an author presentation to the fifth grade classes. My friend Jennifer Vince, a teacher at the school, arranged for me to be there–for which I am extremely grateful! It was a lovely experience. Great kids, a beautiful library, and lots of opportunity to visit with some of the younger classes for informal Q&A sessions on writing. Lots of fun!

Sadly, I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask anyone to get pictures. Oh, well. Next time.

Deadline!

I’m very, very close to being ready to send a new draft of Wolves at the Gate to Paul Krop, the publisher at H.I.P. Books. So close, in fact, that I have set June 2 as the delivery date. I’m excited, because I think this is a much stronger version than what I had previously. I’ve received some useful and encouraging feedback from my writing group and from a couple of critique-based night classes where I’ve shared chapters. I’ve struggled a lot with this project, so it’s nice to see things finally coming together.

Now… gotta go write.