The Bomber Jacket from First Page to Finally, Published!
At Long Last – Book Launch and Party Time!
Almost a year to the date from signing my book contract for The Bomber Jacket, it was LAUNCH DAY!!!
I had long debated how to celebrate this auspicious day and decided to do so in two ways: something small and casual on the actual launch day, August 20, 2024, and then a theme party a few weeks later.
About fifteen friends/local family helped me mark my special day at the Bull’s Head Public House, an authentic British pub in my small town in southcentral Pennsylvania, across the street from Aaron’s Bookstore where many of my friends had preordered my novel. I chose this pub because the small, cozy side room is filled with pictures of World War II airplanes from the British Royal Air Force. Even more importantly, it is dedicated to Richard Boyd, a highly decorated WWII RAF pilot who flew a Lancaster bomber on 33 missions in the European theater.
I had met his daughter, Kathryn Boyd, at a local chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA). I had joined the group in 2011, shortly after starting my business, The Power of Possibilities, a solo enterprise offering corporate staff training and personal coaching. Kathryn and I became friends and I eventually told her about the novel I was writing. In turn, she shared her father’s incredible story, including his beautiful love story: when he was training bomber pilots in Canada during the war, he had met a young Canadian girl. They corresponded as best they could after he returned to England and after the war, she joined him there and they married. After a lifetime of living in many places around the world, they eventually settled in the States and were now living in a retirement community not far from me.
Kathryn arranged for me to spend a delightful afternoon with this charming gentleman who regaled me with his first-hand stories of the terrifying life of a bomber crew. Approximately 125,000 men flew on missions for the RAF Bomber Command, most of them in their late teens and early twenties. Of them, 55,573 did not survive. That’s a 44% fatality rate. Richard Boyd was one of the lucky ones, he said.
For my bigger, splashier event, at which I would be doing book signings, I invited a few people to be my “launch party committee:” my long-time friend, Lori Shoemaker, two good friends I’d met through ABWA, Lois Flickinger and Carol Cool, and my daughter, Michelle Shay. My granddaughter, Zoe Shay, would be my photographer and social media consultant for the event.
I told them my vision for the occasion: a New Year’s Eve party, December 31, 1940, held at Drem Aerodrome in southeastern Scotland, where Colin was stationed, as depicted on pages 221-226 of The Bomber Jacket: “On New Year’s Eve, the enthralling beat of swing music filled Colin’s ears as he walked out of the rainy night into the chilly hangar. Through the magic possessed by the local civilians, a corner of the large, cavernous space had been turned into a dance hall. Spitfires and Hurricanes had been rolled out of the way, some out onto the tarmac, replaced by a recently constructed stage, currently occupied by a band possessing the musical verve, if not the expertise, of a Glenn Miller or Gene Kruppa ensemble.”
My daughter suggested we hold the event at the community building in the small village of Mt. Gretna. The building had been constructed in the 1930s and had just the right vibe for the event. We figured out decorations, food, beverages, how to handle book sales, and what help was needed to make the day go smoothly. Guests would be encouraged to come in 1940s attire.
I sent out invites to family,—I have a huge family—friends, former coworkers at the social service agency where I was a community educator and staff development specialist for 23 years (Lancaster County Office of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities, Early Intervention) and a number of women I’d befriended through ABWA. Then I had fun going with Lori and my sister-in-law Pam to vintage clothing stores looking for just the “right dress.” Problem was, women were a lot thinner in the 1940s with rationing and all! In the end, I resorted to a very cute reproduction dress I found online, matched with the appropriate shoes and hat and a pair of hose with a seam up the back. And of course red nail polish and lipstick to complete the look.
The day of the launch/book signing party was a perfectly lovely, temperate mid-September day. And, coincidentally, because it was the day the venue was available, my birthday.
So I celebrated the launch of my first novel and my birthday with 63 family members, friends, former co-workers, and fellow women entrepreneurs. My daughter and son-in-law, Tom, had decked out the place with just the right sense of the era. My husband had researched and purchased beer that was available during the war in England (and still is). A group of friends/family handled the welcome table, gave out name tags and a “People Bingo” game I’d created to encourage three distinct groups of people to mingle, while others handled the book sales table or keep the food table supplied while my granddaughter Zoe took pictures and her brother Owen was there to cheer us on. Big band music played in the background.
My son, Ben, his wife Jess and daughters Lola and Olive who live in the Chicago area were there in spirit. And many others sent best wishes from afar.
It was everything I had hoped for and imagined. And so much fun catching up with former coworkers I hadn’t seen in years. A truly amazing day marking the culmination of a long, challenging and sometimes heartbreaking journey from the first page of The Bomber Jacket to the day it was finally published.
So many people helped make the day possible.
Time for a bit of a respite before delving into the next phase of being a published author. See Chapter 16 for what that means.Now it was time to gear up for August 20…the book launch day.
