Launch Party!

On Thursday, Where the Sidewalk Ends (one of the two independent bookstores in my small town--we're so lucky here!) hosted a most fabulous launch party for LEFT NEGLECTED.  The store was all decked out in lights, red apples, and more copies of my book than I could count!  Here's a photo of the wonderful women from Where the Sidewalk Ends who made it all happen.

A special and heartfelt thank you to Joanne and Caitlin Doggart, the store's owners (the two lovely ladies to my left).  I had a blast sharing this night with so many close friends, family, and enthusiastic readers from the Cape and beyond.

And when I say beyond, I'm not kidding.  The highlight of the night for me was meeting Mike and his family who drove 10 hours from Canada to come to this event!

It was almost two years ago.  I had only written about 50 pages of LEFT NEGLECTED when I received my first email from Mike.  His sister Karyn had come across my website--and my request for help in better understanding what it's like to experience Left side Neglect.  In January 2007, Mike suffered a stroke on the right side of his brain. He now lives with Left Neglect.

We talked on the phone and emailed many times.  In these conversations, Mike candidly shared his Left Neglect stories with me---the challenges, his goals, his strategies for adapting, what he's lost, what he's gained, and the humor he often finds in living with this condition.  I also spoke and emailed with his wife, Sue, about all the same things but from her perspective.  They taught me so much about Left Neglect--far more than I could ever have learned from any of the text books.

So it was an extraordinary gift to meet Mike and his wife and sister in person on Thursday.  I can't thank them enough for making the long journey to Chatham from Canada (and then back!).  At one point during the evening, Mike said to me, "It's been so difficult trying to explain what I have to people.  Now I can give them a copy of your book, and they'll understand."

Thank you again, Mike.  It doesn't get any more rewarding that that.

Belated Happy Pub Day!

I had planned to enter my first LEFT NEGLECTED blog post yesterday, on Publication Day, but it was such a whirlwind day, I didn't have time.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I had plenty of time to be on Facebook--to spread the word and thank friends and family and fans for their support.  And the embarrassingly compulsive/addictive behavior of checking my amazon.com rank began again, so I had time for that.  But I spent most of the day going to book stores, signing stock, saying Hi and Thanks and jumping up and down with some of my favorite booksellers.  I actually screamed when I saw this display at Where the Sidewalk Ends here in Chatham.

Oh, and I bought three copies of USA Today at Stop & Shop because Craig Wilson (Oh, how I love Craig Wilson!) wrote a PHENOMENAL review of LEFT NEGLECTED.

It was definitely a whirlwind day--hopefully the kickoff to a whirlwind tour!  I have lots of hopes for this book.  I hope it gives readers an opportunity to think about their own lives, to maybe slow down and pay more attention to what really matters to them.  I hope it teaches readers a little bit about traumatic brain injury and Left Neglect.  I hope it helps certain readers find NEHSA (New England Handicapped Sports Association), and I hope it changes their lives.  I hope the story helps everyone to learn to ignore our cell phones in our cars.  And mostly, I hope you all like it!

I did have a little time last night before bed to enter this post.  But instead I drank a glass of wine with my husband and played Connect Four with my 10-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.  I think Sarah Nickerson would approve!