Reviews and podcasts and parties, oh my!
Celebrating one month of Love in the Eternal City!
Welcome to my newest subscribers! The best part of this launch has been meeting new people through reviews or the kind notes you’ve sent my way as you’ve been reading. Having real people read my writing, especially people who have never met me in their lives, is both surreal and so exciting. I’ve loved hearing how Beni and Elena’s story has touched hearts and brought a bit of joy and relaxation to your lives!
Reviews, of all sorts
Launch Day was a flurry of social media and reviews being posted. My launch teams — both the one I assembled personally and the Band of Booksters through WhiteFire — were on point and ready to go! Carl and I celebrated with ice cream after Mass for the feast of the Assumption, and then with some family and close friends at an Italian restaurant.
I’ve started what I call a Praise Book — a little notebook where I’ve written down all the positive comments people have shared about the book, both privately and publicly. Basically, it’s the millennial version of a clippings book, and it’s a fantastic way to make all the affirmation real instead of just ephemeral type on a screen!
(By the way, if you’ve read LEC but haven’t left a review yet, I’d be super grateful if you did!)
Bringing the virtual launch party to you
The VLP was delightful. So much fun, great conversation, and an all-round lovely celebration! One of the highlights for folks was the virtual tour I put together of some of the places and scene settings featured in Love in the Eternal City. As I finished, Canva informed me that it has a Present and Record feature…so as soon as I have a few minutes and a decent hairday, I’m planning to rerecord the virtual tour for y’all!
We also played what was described as a “sadistic” trivia game for the identifying of Italian pasta shapes. See if you can beat Sunday’s winners and get a perfect score!
Pasta Trivia
To complete the asynchronous virtual launch party experience, you could listen to the official LEC playlist, assembled by my lovely friend Liz with a few additions from me!
Playlist
I need to get to the post office and mail out a dozen or so packages to the VLP prize winners…sorry, y’all!
Last but not least…
Some fantastic folks have been reviewing and interviewing me about LEC! Check out these podcasts and articles to discover more about what went into the book, my relationship with the characters, and more.
Articles
The Protagonists Pub (article and video)
Radiant Magazine with Lindsay Schlegel (I love the thoughtful questions Lindsay asked me. She challenged me to think about things I might not have articulated otherwise! This one was also picked up by Theology of Home on their weekly article roundup.)
Detroit Catholic with Gabrielle Patti (This one has been picked up by OSV News and syndicated to diocesan papers around the country! Last spotted in Baltimore…)
Podcasts
Cath-Lit Live with Amy Cattapan
CatholicMomcast with Maria Johnson and Barb Szyszkiewicz
and a few more still in the works. :)
Thank you all so much for making this first month of the launch such a wonderful one. Rianna and Oscar’s story will be continuing soon, as soon as I can muscle my way out of writer’s block (or “the yips”, as Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers puts it.)
~Rebecca W. Martin
The launch party was so fun!