The book is launched
Two weeks ago, I wrote about how I felt when my book came out. You can read it here, but here’s the short version:
I’m not going to go on about this, I just want to mention it briefly to help you understand how anxiety inducing the book presentation was to me beforehand. And I’m doing that, because I don’t want you to think that ALL of this bookmaking business is just rainbows and unicorn farts. Because what comes next, is just that.
My biggest fear was to have an almost empty room, but people did show up, the space was crammed. They brought excitement about my book and I felt so supported that having to talk in front of an audience didn’t make we want to hide in the bathroom. In stead, here’s how hysterically pleased I looked:
Here’s my editor doing a talk about how our collaboration came to be and what she likes about my work. That was nice to hear!
Marieke Eyskoot was on vacation, but had send a sweet video that just about moved me to tears.
Iris Schultheiss, coordinator of the sustainability centre said something so funny it almost gave me a whiplash. (Apparently, I don’t remember this moment as it’s all just a blur.)
Daan van Alkemade talked a bit about his inspiration, the work he does and what it was like for him when I turned his story into a comic.
The only thing that didn’t work out as planned was the quiz. The second question I had come up with: ‘Is it more sustainable to do the dishes by hand or with the dishwasher?’ left us with only four contestants and after the next question all but one were out. However, we had a winner and nobody got mad and there were drinks after.
Finally, Marloes Chater send me these photos below that capture the vibe of the evening perfectly.
As an author/comic maker, it’s hard to know how people perceive your work when you rarely see your reader in person. It makes it easy for self doubt to creep in. Now I’m proud of my book and it’s thanks to these folks who showed their support during and around this event.
On that note, thanks to Arnoud van den Heuvel there’s now this a very cool video about my book.
With love,
Congratulations! 🥳
I am also fascinated by the dishwasher/hand washing dishes thing. I’m convinced that the way I wash dishes is more energy/water efficient than any dishwasher, but I’ve seen how other people wash dishes, and so maybe dishwashers are for them. But then there is the embodied energy cost of making that machine. My parents are on their fourth or fifth dishwasher and they only half load it when they run it. Plus they rinse all the dishes first! That can’t be more efficient.
Sorry, back to your book – brilliant. I wish you great success.
Congrats! Looking good!