Tilt Book Launch

Scenes from a Book Launch

Saturday was my book launch. This was the culmination of an almost twenty year journey. It was at my favorite local tea place, Cup of Tea. It is a warm and welcoming place with a lighted fairy tree that makes a perfect setting for a launch.

The amount of love in the room could be felt. The mother of the boy who tragically died in second grade (the inspiration for the book) and his siblings were in attendance. Later, the Mom said it was perfect. My college friends showed up (and surprised me which is hard to do).

I shared this note to my characters.
Darrah, Jackson, and Lily,

Tonight I launch my book, Tilt into the world. For twenty years I have carried you in my heart, head, and hand. Always writing, revising, getting feedback. Once I stepped away for almost a year so it could all simmer in a word soup.

Darrah, do you remember I first had you in a swing, “Whoosh up, down splat! Whoosh up, down splat!” I wrote it in prose and there were hardly enough pages that said book. I had these images in my head that needed to find their way to the page. I didn’t know at the time that you were a fifth grader reflecting on what happened in second grade.

Jackson, you were there but as Stevie. You’d become a Grant for a while. But returned to Jackson as it also spells mischief and a bright flame. Lily, you were in the background and not in the first draft. You were waiting for the changes I would make.

It was getting the words down, the images, the emotions, and the impact of Johnny’s life on our school community. It’s how I processed the trauma and the grief I felt of losing a student so tragically. It’s how I processed the conversations with the students in the library. I didn’t know it would take me almost twenty years to publish.

For starters, what did I know about writing a book? My first pages lacked the tension and the and the answer to “So what? Why as a reader do I care?” Thus, I began taking classes, going to conferences, and reading more books. I held written conversations between Darrah and I to figure out what she needed. How she needed to learn to speak up, how she wasn’t responsible for Jackson’s death.

It took awhile to figure out how to create a space for the topic of childhood death and how children cope with grief. The shift to writing in poems created the white space for the grief, loss, and forgiveness to come through.

Lily, I’m so glad that you arrived in the story. You were the third leg I needed for the three legged stool. I know I spent a long time writing your character arc and am sorry that in the end I cut it out. However, that process was key in helping me to understand Darrah’s pain with such clarity.

So now you are in the world. I hope you’ll reach many readers. That they will pick up the book and spend an afternoon under a tree, preferably an oak tree to read. I hope they will remember what elementary school was like. That sometimes just being a kid has unseen consequences and we need to be able to tilt.

You three have given me a community of writers and supportive readers. I would not have stumbled into the rich poetry community that has supported me. You three have given me a voice. I am forever grateful to you.

Love always,

Jone

Now the hard work begins. To get Tilt into the hands of readers. It’s currently available through Amazon. If you’s like a signed copy, please contact me and I can make that happen