Blogflux directoryFirst book-signing party!
Posted by Alyce Barry at 10/28/2007 10:26 PM 
Categories: Publishing, Book orders, Marketing, Writing
Categories: Publishing, Book orders, Marketing, Writing
I held my very first book-signing party today!
It was a private party for Boulder Media Women, the organization of writers, editors, filmmakers, etc., in which I'm a very active member, and 16 women were in attendance, which was very gratifying as it was a gorgeous fall day, one of those rare days at the end of autumn when everyone knows it's one of the last truly warm days for a while.
My friend Barbara Darling offered me the use of her house in north Boulder, and it's a lovely space. I talked for about 30 minutes not about the book per se but about the story of my writing it, and I got good laughs in all the right places. Then I read two brief sections. Before and after the talk/reading, it was just a party, where we served tea, wine, water, and a variety of snacks.
It all went incredibly well, I'm so pleased. I really enjoy this group of women, many of whom have become good friends. And I sold 11 books, which was icing on the cake!
"Official" book-signings won't happen til February, following the book's publication date of 2/1/08. I'm looking forward particularly to a signing at the Boulder Book Store, which has such a nice space. I'll also arrange for talks/signings at Borders on Pearl and in other local bookstores.
It was a private party for Boulder Media Women, the organization of writers, editors, filmmakers, etc., in which I'm a very active member, and 16 women were in attendance, which was very gratifying as it was a gorgeous fall day, one of those rare days at the end of autumn when everyone knows it's one of the last truly warm days for a while.
My friend Barbara Darling offered me the use of her house in north Boulder, and it's a lovely space. I talked for about 30 minutes not about the book per se but about the story of my writing it, and I got good laughs in all the right places. Then I read two brief sections. Before and after the talk/reading, it was just a party, where we served tea, wine, water, and a variety of snacks.
It all went incredibly well, I'm so pleased. I really enjoy this group of women, many of whom have become good friends. And I sold 11 books, which was icing on the cake!
"Official" book-signings won't happen til February, following the book's publication date of 2/1/08. I'm looking forward particularly to a signing at the Boulder Book Store, which has such a nice space. I'll also arrange for talks/signings at Borders on Pearl and in other local bookstores.
Dear Alyce,
Thank you for personally signing your book, that you sent me.
I have started to read it and feel over come with emotion, as i can really identify with your feelings of never feeling enough and being fearful of wanting to connect with women.
i wish your book had been published before i went on my journey of the Women in power training, June 2007 in the UK. as your book would have been very helpful, in term of giving me ideas of what i could have worked on.
A male friend who is a warrior suggested that i attend the training, as he thought i would gain some form of healing from it, which i did. but to be honest i didn't really understand what was going on.
my editor was screaming at me " your so stupid and thick, these women are so much more educated than me" and some of them were> i felt so out of place and isolated.I was frightened to be honest and say, " i don't understand".
The women in power was a very powerful experience for me, as i confronted my fears around women and always feeling, less than!
some how the weekend enabled me to come to terms with and accept that my mother who suffered years of mental illness and addiction problems that eventually added to her death.
i am still trying to heal from the damage of my childhood and stop blaming my parents. as both my parents came from cold and unavailable family.
I am aware that ism going on a bit and don't want to dump and sound like a victim.
I am in the process of gaining support, in terms of therapy.
I just need to thank you for being honest and helping me to feel , NOT so alone and giving me an insight into the ongoing work, that is available to me , if i choose.
Blessings
Estelle
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Dear Estelle,
Thanks so much for reading my blog and commenting. I will respond to more of your comment in a private email. For public purposes, let me say first that anyone attending a group workshop (Women In Power or any other) who has been hurt in groups is showing real courage to come to *any* group, and is doing *twice as much work* as others there because they have to work simply to be in the group. I honor your courage for going, and I'm glad to hear you feel you benefitted from it.
I believe many women are fearful of other women, I think our patriarchal society has sometimes divided women from each other by creating competition for men's attention. I believe we women need each other, we need each other's support.
Second, the ideas underlying the predator work done at Women In Power and described in Practically Shameless are very much outside Western culture, and it's not at all surprising that you found them difficult to grasp. I have had clients who couldn't wrap their minds around the concept of stepping into a predatory role, and we did other work instead.
Finally, it's my experience that 'victim' and 'blaming' issues are among the most difficult of all issues to face, and again, I honor your courage for even acknowledging that you might see them in yourself. I have these same issues myself, and it's my belief they stem from having been bullied and forced to take responsibility for things that weren't my fault. (Whenever parents aren't able to be fully mature parents, a child ends up taking on some of the parental role and playing the adult in some respect, though it's not the child's responsibility to be the adult.) When a child repeatedly has to take responsibility for things that aren't her fault, she begins to find it very difficult to take responsibility for anything, including the things that she is responsible for, because taking responsibility is itself a wounded, hurting place.
Thanks again for writing.
Alyce
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