Postcard

I decided that the best way to get attention at AWP was by creating a glossy postcard that looked like the cover of my book and hand it out. I pulled together the design on the weekend before AWP and the cards arrived on Tuesday (thank you, Vistaprint!) They were beautiful and represented the book in just the right way. I left Phoenix with 100 cards in my computer bag and came back from Los Angeles with no cards, so that was a great success.

Almost every person to whom I handed the card simply gasped, especially those who were more "arts" oriented. The image is a self-portrait of my daughter at the age of 16, so half her lifetime ago, and I can't thank her enough for allowing me to use her photo. The desperation in her eyes is hard for me to look back on these days, knowing what she was going through at that stage of her life, but her eyes are very close to my own eyes. Her at 16 looks very much like me at 19 when I married her dad, honestly. So the card was special thanks to her image.

The back of the card describes the book in an "elevator" speech, gives the email address, and has one "praise" quote from a friend (a man) who loved the chapters. It was a terrific endorsement to put on the card (and it will go into the book eventually).

Front of the postcard

Back of the postcard