Gwyn Cready | How I Celebrate Release Day

Well, it depends, of course. For the first couple of books I wrote, back in 2008 (FIRST TIME WITH A HIGHLANDER is my ninth book and the second in the Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands series), I’d celebrate by watching my Amazon sales rank go up and down. It soon became very clear this was not a festive way to spend the day.

I sometimes throw a launch party—I have many fine friends and readers in Pittsburgh who are happy to sip wine, nibble cheese, and support their favorite romance writer. Lately, though, I’ve enjoyed just taking the time to be thankful for my incredible luck and to honor the work I’ve done. I labor so long to get a book right. Every writer does, but if you’re like me and write so slowly that it seems like seasons pass faster than chapters, you notice it even more. When I’m my most generous with myself I think, “Wow, you’ve written nine pretty entertaining stories—stories that deliver six or eight hours of reading pleasure. That’s like three entire days of pleasure.” I mean, like any romance hero would be thrilled to do that, right? So, that thought, if I can hold it, usually gives me a pretty nice feeling of satisfaction. Normally, though, I’m more in the “Aw, gee, it could have been so much better. That sentence makes me cringe. Why did I think that scene needed to be in there?”, etc. We’re very hard on ourselves, we writers.

This launch day, I have even more reason to celebrate. My son got married on September 6 this year, so launch day marks his one-month anniversary. We adore his wife—I can’t believe I’m using the word “wife” when I’m talking about my baby boy!—and we couldn’t be happier about their marriage. And three weeks after launch day, my husband turns 60, a major milestone. (He’s many years older than me—we’re a very May-December romance—or, as my husband likes to say, “November-December.” It all depends on how you look at a seven- year age difference, I guess.) We’ll be traveling to Chicago, where one of his sisters and several of our close friends are, then up to North Dakota and Minnesota, where his other sister and two brothers still live, to celebrate with them. We’re calling it his birthday victory lap.

It’s a pretty happy autumn for me between the wedding, the book launch, and the birthday travels. And since—at least for a few weeks—I am working without a deadline (Hallelujah! Doing the happy author dance!), I’ll be able to move toward my next project using the sort-of thoughtful and painstaking approach that unleashes the best ideas—I’ll take naps! And really run out the batteries on online shopping! And on launch day, I’ll probably just count my blessings and— Wait, is that Isaac Mizrahi on QVC?

GIVEAWAY

Just in Time for a Highlander, the first in the series, available for a giveaway Have you attended any book release parties? Or do you get the book the day it's released and celebrate with the story? Leave a comment below and be entered for a chance to win a copy of JUST IN TIME FOR A HIGHLANDER.

About Gwyn Cready

Gwyn Cready has a BA in English literature and an MBA in marketing from the University of Chicago. For the last twenty years she's worked in brand management at a company as least as interesting as Pilgrim Pharmaceuticals. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, son and daughter.

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About FIRST TIME WITH A HIGHLANDER

From the "master of time travel romance": RITA award-winning author Gwyn Cready continues her steamy Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands series

She needs a man-but only for a night

What do you get when you imbibe centuries-old whiskey-besides a hangover the size of the Highlands? If you're twenty-first century ad exec Gerard Innes, you get swept back to 18th-century Edinburgh and into the bed of a gorgeous, fiery redhead. Gerard has only a foggy idea what he and the lady have been up to...but what he does remember draws him into the most dangerous and exhilarating campaign of his life.

Be careful what you wish for...

Serafina Seonag Fallon's scoundrel of a fiancé has left her with nothing, and she's determined to turn the tables. If she can come up with a ringer, she can claim the cargo he stole from her. But the dashing man she summons from the future demands more than a night, and Serafina finds it easier to command the seas under her feet than the crashing waves he unleashes in her heart.