Speed Bumps and Roundabouts: The book launch edition

24 hours before, it was looking like a disaster. For the entire week before, I had lived my life with an increasingly elevated level of stress. I got to the stage where all I could think was, "I can't wait for it to be over." But till it was, I had a multitude of things to do, a multitude of decisions to make. And I don't like decisions!

The Book Launch: I had dreamed about it for months, well, actually, it was probably years. Although I had no idea what a book launch was supposed to look like, I had imagined a huge celebration that would be born out of years of hoping and dreaming and striving and working. And when I dream about things, I tend to forget about the practicalities.

Oh, the practicalities.

There was the venue. I had about two weeks to organise the event after my books arrived. When it takes one week for a venue to get back to you, it doesn't help the stress. And when the venue you really wanted wants to charge you nearly $600, you start to see that it might not turn out quite as you expected it would. Somewhat like life.

Then there were the guests. Originally planned for a Friday night, when it was changed to Saturday to avoid a clash, it seemed that there were a million new clashed. All of a sudden, everyone who had said they would come was pulling out. It seemed that the guest list was getting smaller and smaller and my desperate texts to friends getting more and more frequent.."can you come on Saturday?", "can you bring about five friends?", "can you change your plans???" By mid week, I was convinced there would be four or five people, including me.

Then there was the entertainment. What's a celebration without

music? I asked a few musician friends of mine: some were busy, some didn't have their own sound equipment, some were out of town. Two days before, it looked like I would have to be the entertainment (which would have been incredibly unpleasant for all involved, though I do a great version of Disney's 'Let it go'. In the shower.) Then I had a brainwave that seemed so obvious that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before..my friends, Ryan and Geoff, who I knew from South Africa days, who were coming anyway (with Ryan's wife and my great friend, Shelly), who I knew were amazing musicians . A couple of calls later, they were available and willing. Over that speed bump, onto the next roundabout.

The Cyclone. All week, the news was everywhere. The warnings were stay inside, prepare for the worst, prepare to lose electricity, stay off the roads. That, of course, set the alarm bells sounding in my brain - would people stay at home just to be

safe? Would the band be able to make it down from Auckland? Would the plastic windows of the garden bar blow in?

The day before, I was ready to give up. It seemed that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. I was ready to sit down in the middle of the road and burst into tears. I emailed the venue manager and asked her if

I could keep my deposit if I changed dates. She told me that I could, but I would have to decide in the following hour for staffing reasons. That hour was the fastest and most full of panic of the whole journey. I texted a few key people (thank you and I'm sorry if you were one of them) to ask for advice. I basically wanted someone to make the decision for me! A few helpful replies later, I took a deep breath and went for it...we were sticking with the Saturday night.

I don't think my heart stopped pounding for the next 24 hours, especially inthe half hour before kick off. I felt possessed, staring at the door, willing people to walk through it...

...and they did.

Thank The Lord. They did. As the night progressed, my smile got bigger and bigger. People came, and not just people, but people who were important to me, people who had made a huge effortto be there, people whose support I valued, people whose friendships I cherished.

The anxiety faded and it was replaced by excitement, joy, the feeling of being overwhelmed and humbled by support, by relief, and by amazement that despite all the lessons I had written about inmy book, I was still surprised by the speed bumps and roundabouts.

**Big thanks to Completely Covered for the music, Ruth Gilmour for the photos and Iguana for the venue as well as everyone who came.