When my debut novel was published my awesome friend Marisa offered to throw me a book launch party. Who could say no to that? (Um, not me!) At first she was going to do something simple at her house (except Marisa never does anything “simple”). Then she started doing some research and decided why have it at home when you can have it big. (You know, go big or go home? Or something like that.)

After much discussion we decided to have it at Bellini Osteria in Westlake Village, a local Italian restaurant/wine bar that Marisa has a relationship with. (In a very different way than the relationship my thighs have with Bob’s Big Boy.) Because why have a book signing at a bookstore (what’s a bookstore?) when you can have it at a bar?

This worked out especially well as the title of my book, Frosted Cowboy, is actually a cocktail (the recipe is in the back of the book) so Frosted Cowboys were sold at the event.

Of course I had to find the perfect outfit. Something cute and a little bit sexy that also didn’t look like I was trying too hard. I scored when I found a super cute top at Blush in Calabasas that I paired with some boyfriend jeans, wedge heels, and funky jewelry.

Sidenote: I went to Blush the day before my party on my lunch break (because last-minute is how I roll) and apparently just missed a massive paparazzi frenzy as one of the Kardashians was patronizing Coffee Bean in the same shopping center. The women in the shop thought it was Kendall. (Who I guess is actually a Jenner.)

Breaking news: 18-year-old buys $5 cup of coffee.

Stop the fucking press. Sigh…

Anyway, back to me and my fabulousness.

My book signing was from 5:30 – 8:00 and the plan was for me to mingle for about half hour to forty-five minutes, take lots of pictures, be introduced by my friend Chris Stevenson, give a 5 minute speech (yeah, me talk for only 5 minutes – hilarious, right?), then sell and sign books.

Well, that was the plan.

People started lining up immediately wanting to buy the book so we figured it would be best if we started selling (and signing) right away. My husband, Dave was in charge of the “register” – a Square chip card reader plugged into his cellphone. It was a little tricky to use at first, nearly causing me to have a mini-meltdown because I am terrible under pressure (seriously, I am never the calm in the storm when the shit hits the fan), but we got the hang of it and everything went smoothly.

Some of my wonderful friends brought me gifts.

Julie brought me champagne and a gorgeous orchid that I will 100% kill no matter how hard I try to keep it alive (and probably faster than most people who are bad at plants and end up killing them).

Jillian brought me beautiful wildflowers.

Marisa (different friend than the Marisa who threw me the party – pronounced differently too) brought me a lovely bottle of wine.

It was like my birthday!

So many people came to support me. A woman named Cheryl that I went to high school with, and am now Facebook friends with, drove over 40 miles (in the rain) and bought three books! It was overwhelming and a bit surreal. I felt bad because I only had a minute or two to talk to most people. (Hey, thanks for coming to see me, you’re so sweet, here’s your book, now go! Next!) But I really was so grateful and felt so truly blessed to have so much support.

We set up an area for people to take photos with some props and asked them to post with #FrostedCowboy to their favorite social media sites.

After signing books for about 45 minutes I did give my speech. I told the story of how I wrote the book. And kept it at about 10 minutes. (I think.)

Then I signed some more books and I was able to mingle a bit afterward. (And had a Frosted Cowboy!)

I sold 47 books and many people brought the ones they had already bought on Amazon. All in all it was a pretty epic night. I’m still kind of pinching myself. It really did make me feel like this:

To everyone who was there, thank you. You made this writer feel very special and so very loved. Marisa, you are the bomb and Chris Stevenson, you rock! Oh, and hey, if you weren’t there, you can buy Frosted Cowboy here.