There are lots of writers who are making this journey without the support of their partner or their wider family. So I’m well aware of just how amazing my family has been over the past couple of days and I want to pay homage to them.
Apart from the fact that as many of them as possible are coming to the booklaunch (including cousins that I haven’t seen for YEARS) and a lot of them pre-ordered the book (pre-orders are the best!), over the past couple of days the following things have happened:
* on Thursday, my sister-in-law called to say she’d just rushed down to her local A&R in Miranda (‘The Shire’, Sydney) and she had it in her hot little hands. It was the very first notification of someone having purchased a book. She’s dumped Twilight in order to read it. Apparently both my nephews are wanting to take it to school for news. I’ve advised her to make sure they DON’T read any of it aloud. Particularly anything from pages 39-43; 234-238; 305-318 and 334-335 (the last not such a big deal, but still not suitable for a primary school classroom). Oh, for those of you over 18, perhaps those are the pages you want to go to first. Particularly 305-318. A little tip for you :)
* later that day, two of my cousins posted to Facebook that they had their copies (one had got a copy for her father, my uncle as well). Not so sure about having my parents and uncles reading the above pages. Sadly I don’t have grandparents to worry about, although the grandmother that got me into romance with her vast collection of Mills and Boons probably wouldn’t have minded at all.
* on Friday, another cousin told me she had her copy, and that she’d told everyone at the school she teaches at to read it, and she posted on her own Facebook wall that it had happened and how proud she was. ‘I feel like a proud mother’, she said. Note – I’m the eldest in the family.
* That day the parents-in-law went to Macquarie and bought their copy from the Dymocks there. They said there were three or four copies there. They took a photograph of it instore and emailed to me, and here ‘tis -
* today, my sister has called to say she went into the A&R near her (probably the Woden one) and she couldn’t get the book until July 1 (I’d already been into Queanbeyan’s A&R and not seen it on the shelves and hoped that meant someone had bought it. My sister’s message makes me think it wasn’t shelved yet. Except my s-i-l got hers at an A&R – publishing is a funny business). Anyway, points for effort on this one, and the order helps.
* then another cousin Facebooked me to say that not only had she bought her copy, while in the store she came across a woman looking for a present for her mother. Cousin presented her with my book and after looking at it, she not only bought one for her mother but one for herself as well! So yay to the HC folk for the fantabulous cover and double yay to my amazing cousin and her previously un-known skills at bookselling.
So as you can see, my cousins are all fighting each other for favoured cousin status while the in-laws have been the bearers of news. And of course that doesn’t begin to cover the understanding from my parents and siblings for all the times they haven’t seen me over the past twelve months.
Last but certainly not least is my darling husband, who has not only Twittered and Facebooked every bit of news, but is now trying to start a flame war with Rove McManus over who is the more proud husband of their literary wife (PS Tasma, best of luck in the Australian Book Industry Awards).
I am a lucky, lucky girl.