[Oldbury Writing Group members]
On Saturday 22nd April, we (The Oldbury Writing Group) launched our first anthology titled From Sunrise to Sunset at the Oldbury Library. From Sunrise to Sunset is a World War Two anthology of poems and short stories.
[Audience taking part in quiz]
During the event, we each read some of our pieces from the anthology. I read three poems: ‘The Forgotten Army’, ‘Ravensbrück Rabbit’, and ‘The Women of the War’. The audience was then invited to take part in a World War Two quiz. The winner received a £25 The Works voucher and a signed copy of our book. And, surprisingly, the winner was our writing group friend Brendan Jackson. During the book launch, people were able to buy a signed copy of our anthology – we managed to sell all of our copies. I used my special Nicole pen to sign the books. Ever since I got the pen, I’ve been saving it to do my author signature, so it is amazing to finally use the pen.
[My book signing pen]
While I had hoped for a bigger turnout (we had been advertising for months), it was nice to have support from family and friends. As always, I was nervous about standing in front of people and reading out my poems, even though the audience wasn’t that big, and I had read out two of the poems before. I think I’ll always feel nervous, but as long as I don’t allow it to stop me sharing my work, then that’s all that matters.
[Me reading]
During the book launch, I decided to tweet along. Well, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, especially when I also need to take photos for the website, but it was fun to do, and we had a laugh taking all the selfies. I’ll definitely try to tweet along during our book tour events, and I might try doing a Twitter live video, which is something I will do during tomorrow’s event at the Museum of Cannock Chase.
[Oldbury Writing Group selfie 1]
Even with a small audience, we had a brilliant time, and I’m so proud of what we have achieved. It has taken a long time to get our book published, and it’s nice to finally see the end result. I just hope that everyone loves the book as much as we do.
The book launch might be over, but this isn’t the end. We will be going on a book tour around the West Midlands. Our first book tour event will be at the Museum of Cannock Chase – we will be taking part in their VE Day Celebration event. We went to the event last year (see my ‘Oldbury Writing Group Trip – Museum of Cannock Chase’s VE Day Celebration’ post) and loved it, so we are thrilled to be taking part in this year’s event.
[Oldbury Writing Group selfie 2]
As well as Saturday’s event, we will also be touring around libraries, plus much more. See our ‘book tour dates’ page for more details.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, joining my writing group has been the best decision I have ever made. I have had so many incredible experiences over the last two and half years. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Keep writing, folks!