Photos & recap of the LIVE THROUGH THIS launch party

Photos & recap of the LIVE THROUGH THIS launch party

On Saturday, October 13, 2012, this happened at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle:

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(photo by Arin Berthiaume)

Which means that there was lots of these things to go around, of course:

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        (Photos by Sarah S. Moon)

Hooray!

I did a short talk about what I'd hoped to accomplish in writing Live Through This. Then I read a short excerpt (pages 54, 55, and the first few lines of 56, in case you wondered), in which Coley and Reece flirt using song lyrics--like they often do.

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(Photo by William McCain)

That was the perfect segue for my husband, Dwayne, to appear from behind the curtain to introduce members of Alabaster (himself, Joe, Laura, Marlon, and Shaina) and Peace Mercutio (Andy and Taylor), who joined forces to play as "Writer's Block." As a surprise for me, they'd all changed their clothes to dress like the writer they know best in hoodies, T-shirts, and pajamas.

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(Photo by Sarah S. Moon)

Writer's Block played six songs that are related to the book, and they took turns singing the lead vocals: Laura on "Asking for It" by Hole,  Shaina on "Missing" by Everything But the Girl, Taylor on "Creep" by Radiohead, followed by Shaina on Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry." The most recognizable song of all was sung by Andy: "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. Then I came over and surprised everyone (except the band members and, like, three other people who knew in advance) by singing "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus with Shaina's assistance on the choruses.

band
mwithband

       (Photos by Arin Berthiaume)

After the music, I went back to the podium for a Q&A, and then it was time for the signing and reception.

There was some of this:

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(Photo by William McCain)

And a WHOLE BUNCH of this:

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(Photo by Sarah S. Moon)

And the people who weren't me got to do this for a while:

crowd2

(

Photo by Arin Berthiaume)

The bookstore was very professional, organized, and had plenty of books to go around! Casey O., the host, made me feel welcomed and at ease. In all, it was a very fun day for me, and I got a number of emails afterward from attendees who said that they'd enjoyed themselves as well! There were some who'd traveled from British Columbia, Oregon, California, and Colorado, which really meant a lot to me and made the day extra special. Thank you all so much!

linds
linda

(Photos by Leeann Ward and Lindsey Schoenberger)

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Photobucket

(Photos by Lindsey Schoenberger)

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(Photo by . . . Linsey or Sandra? :-D)

(If you attended the event and have photos that you'd like to share with me, I'd love to see them! My email is mindirochelle AT gmail DOT com, if you wanna send them.)

Photos and a brief recap of the LIVE THROUGH THIS launch party!

On Saturday, October 13, 2012, this happened at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle:

Photobucket
(photo by Arin Berthiaume)
Which means that there was lots of these things to go around, of course:
Photobucket Photobucket
             (Photos by Sarah S. Moon)     

Hooray!

I did a short talk about what I'd hoped to accomplish in writing Live Through This. Then I read a short excerpt (pages 54, 55, and the first few lines of 56, in case you wondered), in which Coley and Reece flirt using song lyrics--like they often do.

Photobucket
(Photo by William McCain)
That was the perfect segue for my husband, Dwayne, to appear from behind the curtain to introduce members of Alabaster (himself, Joe, Laura, Marlon, and Shaina) and Peace Mercutio (Andy and Taylor), who joined forces to play as "Writer's Block." As a surprise for me, they'd all changed their clothes to dress like the writer they know best in hoodies, T-shirts, and pajamas.
Photobucket
(Photo by Sarah S. Moon)
Writer's Block played six songs that are related to the book, and they took turns singing the lead vocals: Laura on "Asking for It" by Hole,  Shaina on "Missing" by Everything But the Girl, Taylor on "Creep" by Radiohead, followed by Shaina on Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry." The most recognizable song of all was sung by Andy: "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. Then I came over and surprised everyone (except the band members and, like, three other people who knew in advance) by singing "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus with Shaina's assistance on the choruses.

      

band mwithband
         (Photos by Arin Berthiaume) 
After the music, I went back to the podium for a Q&A, and then it was time for the signing and reception.

There was some of this:

Photobucket
(Photo by William McCain)  
  
And a WHOLE BUNCH of this:
Photobucket
 (Photo by Sarah S. Moon)
And the people who weren't me got to do this for a while:
crowd2
(Photo by Arin Berthiaume)
The bookstore was very professional, organized, and had plenty of books to go around! Casey O., the host, made me feel welcomed and at ease. In all, it was a very fun day for me, and I got a number of emails afterward from attendees who said that they'd enjoyed themselves as well! There were some who'd traveled from British Columbia, Oregon, California, and Colorado, which really meant a lot to me and made the day extra special. Thank you all so much!

linds  linda 
(Photos by Leeann Ward and Lindsey Schoenberger)

Photobucket Photobucket
(Photos by Lindsey Schoenberger)

Photobucket
(Photo by . . . Linsey or Sandra? :-D)

(If you attended the event and have photos that you'd like to share with me, I'd love to see them! My email is mindirochelle AT gmail DOT com, if you wanna send them.)

Launch party reminder + bunches of links!

Reminder! My Seattle launch party is happening on October 13th, which is this coming Saturday! I hope to see you there. Here's the info about it, if you need it. And if you can't attend, but would like order signed copies of my books to be shipped to you, you should do that, like, right away! Here's some promotion stuff for Live Through This that's popped up in the past couple of weeks. I hope you'll check some of it out. I worked hard on these and they're interesting, if you're into that sort of thing. ;-)

Videos

Guest blogs

Book Excerpt A cute excerpt from Chapter 5 of LTT was posted at I Like These Books, along with my commentary about what's happening in the scene.

Reviews

Character Interviews

Blogs that have posted recent interviews with me

Blog: When happiness & overwhelmedness (not a real word?) compete.

Live Through This, my second published novel, came out exactly a week ago today!

It's been an exciting and happy time--especially hearing from so many people who read and were moved by it. I've received lots of encouraging and complimentary notes from friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers. I try to use my writing to empower lives and broaden perspectives, and it's wonderful to know that Coley's story is accomplishing that. 

But I will also admit that having this book out has been very overwhelming. There were a few days last week where I did little except lie around in bed and read books. I just didn't have it in me to do anything else. Not very glamorous, interesting, or healthy, I know, but it is what it is and I want to be honest about that. The release of Freefall two years ago had a similar, but less extreme effect on me. I'm already snapping out of it, which feels like a much better place to be, obviously.

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I did get a chance to see Live Through This on the shelves at Barnes and Noble a few days before actual release date, which made me cry a little. I wasn't expecting that, since this isn't my first book. Maybe that's what it will always be like, though? Writing, revising, and waiting for publication is SUCH A LONG PROCESS, so seeing the real book on the shelves of a real bookstore makes it finally really, real?

________________________________________________________________________

Reminder! My Seattle launch party is happening on October 13th, which is this coming Saturday! I hope to see you there. Here's the info about it, if you need it. And if you can't attend, but would like order signed copies of my books to be shipped to you, you should do that, like, right away! 

Here's some promotion stuff for Live Through This that's popped up in the past couple of weeks. I hope you'll check some of it out. I worked hard on these and they're interesting, if you're into that sort of thing. ;-)

Videos

Guest blogs

Book Excerpt
A cute excerpt from Chapter 5 of LTT was posted at I Like These Books, along with my commentary about what's happening in the scene. 

Reviews

Character Interviews

Blogs that have posted recent interviews with me

Blog: The time that @Amber_Benson read & recommended a book that I wrote.

My second book came out a week ago today and many things have happened! I'll be detailing some of it in a later post, but I want to write about THIS THING that I just typed in the subject line, because it's kind of a big deal to me.

Over ten years ago, Dwayne and I started watching a television show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Two years ago, I made a vlog, discussing briefly, how the show changed my life. Last week (on my birthday), an actor from the show recommended my second published novel to readers of her blog. Among many other wonderful things, the blog post said this:

 "Mindi Scott has a real talent for getting inside her protagonist’s head. She sketches out Coley’s story in grand swathes, and then paints in all the little details, so that you feel as though you are enmeshed in Coley’s brain: thinking her thoughts, feeling her confusion, anger, and, in the end, pain. I just don’t think it’s possible to read this book and not identify with Coley in some way." -Amber Benson, actor/writer/director

Now, I've had some time to get used to this whole being-published concept, since I got my first book deal three and a half years ago. It was only a few months after that happened when I met Amber Benson for the first time at our editor's wedding reception. But when I take some time now to let it sink in, to consider this from the point of view of the me of ten plus years ago, I get pretty emotional. I think of my younger self reading the above paragraph and I imagine that my reaction might have been something like this:

Amber Benson read a book that I wrote! Amber Benson liked what I wrote! Amber Benson blogged about the book I wrote and suggested that others should also read it! AMBER BENSON KNOWS WHO I AM!!!!!!!

It's just . . . I mean. What a crazy, wonderful thing!