(Here she is in her vivid purple and orange glory.)
Writing books is largely a solitary endeavour.
As writers we plug away alone, wrangling over words and hoping that we’ll end up with something publishable. This is why book launches can be so emotional for the writer – that small printed artefact represents so much labour, hoping, dreaming, imagining, and work, work, work. & Usually it is work that no one is asking for, no one is cheerleading, no one is paying for…it is a strange, intense relationship between the writer and the page which demands commitment, self-belief and no small measure of grit. As such, it is important to celebrate the effort and acknowledge that all that labour has turned into a physical artefact separate from the writer and is about to go off and have its own adventures in the world. It is also a kind of jettison…in that the project needs to be released from the writer’s mind so that space can be cleared for new projects.
My local community really bought the support last Friday. The Bruise Palette is all launched and she and I are feeling very loved up.
If you’re interested in strange NZ poetry, you can buy a copy here.
My dear friend Carly Thomas was a warm and funny MC for proceedings. I gave a speech and read some poems and I managed not to cry during my speech this time…unlike during the A Forager’s Life launch when I lost it and cried so hard I had to get partner Fraser to come up and help me sputter out the rest.
(Me and Carly on the night.)
I did start to weep, however, when my beloved friend Abi Symes Button played their song ‘Human Lungs’ for us; a special acoustic version.
Here’s the recorded version:
(Me and Abi – before all the tears.)
Then I had my first sighting of the book in a bookshop! The Bruce McKenzie Books window display. Long live our independent booksellers who so warmly support local authors. When the major bookselling chains barely stock any NZ writing (boo!)…the support from indie bookshops means so very much to NZ writers. The staff at Bruce McKenzie have been a huge support to us with this project; they took care of pre-sales for us and made everything so easy.
The first time I spot my books in a bookshop window is always such a thrill.
Working with a small press on this book has been enormous, collaborative fun.
A little favour:
If you read The Bruise Palette and use Goodreads or Storygraph, please consider rating/reviewing it over there. It really helps get the book more exposure.
x x x
Publisher and designer Anthony Behrens and I looking like proud book parents. Publisher Toni Edmeades couldn’t make the launch. We missed you, Toni!
Bouquets : garden beauty from Carly and purple mini-cabbages from Cheleigh.
The next day, I felt a kind of happy, bone-deep tiredness…as if I’d run a marathon…because I (kind of) had.
We finished a full and lovely launch weekend with a full moon burn in the backyard:
Now, I’m busy drumming up a few events around the north island through the year. More on those as they get confirmed.
Books are group projects and I am very lucky to have some special, caring, clever people around me. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me either during the making of this book or since the publication.
Much love. x
Helen Lehndorf 
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