Reflections on a book launch
Hello,
Phew! What a few weeks it’s been!
The book is out! People are reading it. I can’t believe that all that hard work paid off, and it’s real.
The highlight of publication week was the big party I had to celebrate.
Frankly, I had the night of my life.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had everyone you love in a room but it is an incredibly special thing. I spent quite a lot of the night attempting not to cry every time someone arrived or said something nice, but amidst the overwhelm I had so much fun catching up with everyone. My people turned up and it was amazing to see groups of friends meet each other and get along, while I flitted around sneaking in hugs between attempting to be professional.
I’d been quite nervous about the speech I gave because it was very emotional, but I just about held it together, which is more than I can say for everyone else in the room
What I didn’t say in my speech, because I knew it’d really be the end of my composure, is how much teenage Lucy would not have believed what was happening. Not just because she wouldn’t have expected to write a book, or because she didn’t think she’d have any sort of a career, but because she had no idea that it was possible to have so many friends.
But there they all were - the uni mates, the colleagues from journalism and publishing who are now my pals, the girls who start as my PAs and end up as family, my boys without whom none of this would happen and my community who I do it all for. There they all were, with Mum and Dad and Lou and the kids, with a glass of bubbly in one hand and my book in the other. I have never felt so lucky. And I thought about the teenage girl who had no idea any of this was coming, and I thought: we made it, life is so good.
In all honesty, the week and a bit since the book came out has been a little odd. I was so busy with PR and publication prep and now it’s all done. Life is suddenly quiet again, and the road my little book baby takes from here is largely out of my hands. It is very hard to let it go, and harder still to trust that it will reach the right people.
Just as I was feeling really panicky, though, someone commented on one of my Instagram posts to say she’d been talking about my book to her six-year-old daughter, who uses a powerchair. “You are the role model to her that you never had,” she wrote, “and that means everything.”
And all the tears I held in on publication day began to fall.
Whatever happens next, I’ve done what I set out to do.
See you next week,
Lucy
That’s right! My debut book is NOW.
It’s a memoir about life as a disabled woman, how ableism and sexism interact in complicated and multifaceted ways, and how we often have to fight to be seen as women at all. Find out more here.
I put my heart and soul into this book and I’d love it to reach as many people as possible. Please do grab a copy or share the link with anyone who’d be interested.