Today is the first anniversary of my book! It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already, seems like just yesterday that I was unpacking a box of books in my living room.
My launch party was a blast, off-grid at Nipika Mountain Resort with my favourite people—my Slack group friends whom I’d never met in person but we’d talked for years online, and my husband. My friends and I spent our four days together laughing, eating, walking, and talking about writing and the writing life. It was a beautiful location, with the mountain backdrop and a river to walk down to. I got everyone to sign my copy of the book so I could remember our get-together every time I opened it.
In the year since publication, I’ve been on podcasts like Talk Nerdy to Me with Cara Santa Maria and Let’s Talk Memoir with Ronit Plank, and chatted with Talk Radio Europe (looks like the recording is no longer available) and CKUA Radio. My book has been reviewed in Science, BC Studies, BC Bookworld, Alberta Views, and more (see my book webpage). I had a couple of interviews with Melissa Sevigny at Terrain.org, and with Hilary Mohaupt for Hippocampus magazine. I even did a webinar for the Women Geoscientists in Canada.
I’ve been shortlisted for the Foreword Indies Award (didn’t win, sadly, though I would have had a better chance in the memoir category rather than the ecology and environment category they put me in), the Hubert Evans Non-fiction Prize (BC/Yukon Book Prizes), and the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada Book Award. I won’t hear about the last two until September.
This doesn’t sound like much to people who go on book tours and are feted at writer’s festivals (though I was on a panel at Edmonton LitFest in October 2025). But it’s a lot for me. I use up a lot of mental energy for these things.
I think for my next book I’m going to be more proactive about publicity, now that I know how these things work. For example, I wanted to have an event at Munro’s Bookstore in Victoria, but I contacted them too late and they didn’t have space in their schedule for it. The lesson there is to contact people early, even if you don’t have a copy of the book yet. I’d like to do a mini-book tour, maybe just on the Island or even to Vancouver. Some way to connect with readers outside of my “bubble.” I’d like to be part of more literary festivals, but I have no idea how to get included. I’m also going to make an email list out of all my contacts so I can keep people up-to-date on what’s happening (assuming I have things happening lol). Finally, I’d like to do a book reading in my local city of Duncan. My local bookstore, Volume One, was kind enough to host a book signing which went well, but I’d like to do an actual reading for my community.
All of these things have to be weighed against the mental load they require, and I may have to back off on some of them as I go. But at least I have an idea of where to start and what to do.
Tomorrow we’ll celebrate with lunch at the pub we like and a special dinner with chocolate cake to finish it off.
And in October I’ll meet all my friends again! This time instead of meeting in the Rockies we’re meeting in southern Ontario. I’m so looking forward to it. It’s going to be great.
