InsaniTea Party Pics, Bookmarks and Swag Packs!

It’s not every day one gets to throw a Gothic-Steampunk-Asylumtastic Victorian tea party to launch their novel.  And Sweetheart, you better believe when that opportunity arose, I wasn’t about to let it pass by.

Me and Amber (MyshelfandI and Wednesday on the YA Rebels!)

While writing A Touch Morbid, the second book in the series, I wondered about having a launch party.  See, parties make me nervous.  Like everyone else, I’m always terrified no one will come.  And as much as I love being the center of attention on BlogTV (for oh, 5 hours lol) in person I get so nervous.  Before signings, I’m a wreck inside. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to hold something to thank everyone who had bought and supported the first book. I have the best readers in the world, and I wanted a way to thank them. A party seemed like a good idea, but I knew a normal signing wasn’t gonna cut it.

I don’t think I’ve made it a secret that while writing this trilogy, Kristen’s scenes were ones I looked forward to most.  A schizophrenic graverobber with a penchant for spouting poetry to hold her mind together? In reviews and in talking to people, she always seemed to pop up as a favorite character.  If I have a launch party, I thought, maybe I can work a Kristen style Sider ball into it.

Signing line!

It could be a tea party!  People could wear costumes!  The idea spun in my brain for a few days and then something important happened.  I went to Maggie Stiefvater’s signing in Novi, Michigan.

Some of the attendees!

One of the people there was Krys, who works at Schuler’s in Lansing.  Afterward, when a bunch of us went out to eat, she asked me if I planned to do a launch party for Morbid.  I kind of blushed and told her my silly skeleton of a thought.  “You’re doing it!” Krys told me.  “I’m telling them about it tomorrow and we’re totally making this happen!”  And so it was, that a writer from Ohio wound up having an InsaniTEA Party complete with

skull shaped sugar cubes and a live band with character look-alikes at a bookstore in Lansing, Michigan.

For those of you who attended, THANK YOU! Thank you thank you thank you– I can’t say it enough!  Your total commitment (commitment, committed, asylums and insaniteas…) took this so far beyond my wildest expectations! Even if you were only able to come to the liveshow, thank you! I had friends of mine who popped in to check it out and passed on all the lovely things you said!

A huge thank you to Claslan, fronted by our Az look-alike, Clay, for performing!  They absolutely rocked it! Many MANY of you have asked where to get their album.  The website, along with links to grab their songs and the merch they had available at the InsaniTEA is http://www.claslan.com/! There’s also a video of them performing on the facebook event page.

This is the drummer for Claslan! His name is Gabe! In the background there is Ian, aka the "Other options" hand in the Kristen Trailer.

And finally a HUGE thank you to Krys and Whitney at Schuler’s Books and Music in Lansing, who made this all possible! They both went out of their way to make this event something special (Who has a live band in a bookstore?! *two thumbs* This girl!) and made sure the livestream happened, which was really important to me!

I know there were a lot of you who couldn’t attend.  Don’t worry! No one is getting left out!

At the event, I handed out the first of the BEAUTIFUL bookmarks that Courtney Allison Moulton designed for A Touch Morbid! To get your hands on some, send an email with your address to LeahCliffordBooks (at) gmail (dot) com! I’ll be sending out bookmark packets sometime in April, so spread the word!

In the next few weeks, I’m going to be doing some giveaways for the swag bags I handed out, which will include the lockets and necklaces I had made! Along with those items will come a variety pack of tea and some of those sugar skull shaped sugar cubes so you too, can have an Insanitea Party!

Check out more pictures in the InsaniTEA Party album on my facebook page!

Did you attend the event or the liveshow? What did you think? Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for Book 3’s launch party! Who should we theme it after?

*Edited to add: The Mortal Portal store has been updated with shirts and a ton of other products for both A Touch Mortal AND A Touch Morbid (including the infamous kitten shirt!) . Click on each of the categories to see other designs!

*Edited to add 2: Schuler’s has signed copies of both books! You can order them by calling the store at 517 316 7495

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