Vivian Peters has just returned home from her West Coast Book Launch.  The trip involved two major events.  First was a reading, and the audience listened well, asked excellent, probing questions and provided extremely positive feedback.  The second event was with a book group that had read the book and invited Vivian to meet with them to discuss it.  This was Vivian’s first meeting with people who had read the book already.  It was a fabulous experience.  One slight challenge was the fact that there were numerous guests who had not already read the book–friends and family of book group members who were invited because the members were so excited that they wanted to share it.  So she was with a very mixed audience, but quickly figured out to open with a short reading and brief overview.  This was supposedly done for the benefit of the guests who had not read the book, but it ended up having an unexpected advantage: even those who had read the book commented on how much they enjoyed and benefitted from hearing it read by the author out loud.
The question/answer and discussion time during that gathering was both inspiring and affirming to Vivian.  Vivian Peters has just returned home from her West Coast Book Launch.  The trip involved two major events.  First was a reading, and the audience listened well, asked excellent, probing questions and provided extremely positive feedback.  The second event was with a book group that had read the book and invited Vivian to meet with them to discuss it.  This was Vivian’s first meeting with people who had read the book already.  It was a fabulous experience.  One slight challenge was the fact that there were numerous guests who had not already read the book–friends and family of book group members who were invited because the members were so excited that they wanted to share it.  So she was with a very mixed audience, but quickly figured out to open with a short reading and brief overview.  This was supposedly done for the benefit of the guests who had not read the book, but it ended up having an unexpected advantage: even those who had read the book commented on how much they enjoyed and benefitted from hearing it read by the author out loud.
The question/answer and discussion time during that gathering was both inspiring and affirming to Vivian.  The questions and comments were profoundly thoughtful and thought provoking, and reflected extremely careful reading by the group.  For example, readers commented that many of the dialogues pointed to listening and communication skills that are applicable to so much more than the subjects covered in the book, and conversations about the role of parents and adults as listeners followed.  In addition, Vivian received feedback from readers with concerns and helpful suggestions.  For example, one reader felt that too much emphasis on the website and in the descriptions of the book was about teens.  She felt that that was an important part of the book, but that the main messages were much broader and should be given more emphasis when describing the book.  Vivian takes these helpful suggestions to heart and plans to make several changes to the website and her outreach via social media as a result.
The back and forth dialogue with readers has been precisely what Vivian was hoping for when she wrote the book, and she extends heartfelt thanks to all who attended the events, to all readers who are helping spread the word about the book, and to all who have contacted her about the importance of bringing these subjects to a mainstream audience.
If you are a part of a book group that would like to have Vivian attend a meeting, please contact her via email or through the link on her website