You're Invited! Come Join My Book Launch Group

You’re Invited to Join my Book Launch Group

As promised, I’m putting together a Book Launch Group for my new book Ejaculate Responsibly. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’d love to have you be a part of it. I’ve created a NEW private newsletter, just for interacting with the group, and if you’d like to join, you can send me your email address (email me at designmom@designmom.com or DM on Instagram), and I’ll email you an invite (it’s totally free, there isn’t a paid option at all).

Join My Book Launch Group

This is what I’ve got planned so far.

When you join the Book Launch Group, I’ll send you notes via the private newsletter each week—starting this week and continuing through August, September, and October.

-You’ll get behind-the-scenes updates about the book.

-You’ll get first looks at any book merchandise.

-You’ll get an invitation to a live Zoom call with me—again, exclusively for Book Launch Supporters. (If my schedule allows, I’d love to do more than one.)

-Plus a couple more perks I can’t tell you about yet!

What do I need from you?

I’m looking for three things from Book Launch Group Members:

1) Once the book comes out and you’ve had a chance to read it, please review the book on Amazon or Goodreads. 5-star reviews are so important for helping a new book get seen.

2) If it’s in your budget, please pre-order the book. If it’s not in your budget, please ask your library to order a copy. Here are some links where you can pre-order the book:

United States
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Bookshop — independent booksellers

Canada
Amazon Canada

United Kingdom
Amazon UK

Australia
Booktopia

As of this post, it’s on sale at Bookshop for $13.94, and at Amazon for $14.24. You can also go directly to your local bookstore (in person or online) and ask them to pre-order it for you. They’ll be happy to.

I can’t tell you enough how pre-orders and 5-star reviews make or break a book launch.

3) Help me tell people about the book. I want everyone talking about the ideas in the book, and I could really use your help spreading the word. For example, in a few weeks, I’ll be announcing the official pre-order campaign, and I’d love your assistance telling people about it — you could text a friend, post it on your Instagram Stories or Facebook — anything like that is super helpful. Once the book is available, giving it another shout out would also be terrific.

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I’ve never put together a Book Launch Group before, so if you’ve got other fun ideas to make it awesome, I’m all ears! Be sure to join right away by sending me your email address (email me at designmom@designmom.com or DM on Instagram) so I can send you and invite to the Book Launch Group newsletter so you don’t miss out on anything.

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Wakeboarding Lessons

The most accomplished I’ve felt all summer is during a surprise wakeboarding lesson. Oscar, Betty, and Flora June have had three wakeboarding lessons this summer on a nearby man-made lake, called Lake Rabodanges. They tried it last summer too, so this isn’t their first time.

With each lesson they’ve seen significant progress and gotten a big boost in confidence. Lessons are very short! Just ten minutes each. But ten minutes behind the boat will wear you right out. We try to purchase 40 minutes so that 3 kids and one parent can all get a turn. The kids are working on jumps, and successfully crossing the wake back and forth. It’s really fun to watch them.

Sometimes Ben Blair and I will ride in the boat with the kids. Other times we watch from the shore. And when he can, Ben typically takes a turn on the wakeboard at the end of the lessons.

I would waterski or wakeboard with my family when I was a kid, but I haven’t done anything like that for probably two decades — I’ve been wracking my brain and can not remember the last time I wakeboarded or waterskied. But last week, the kids talked me into giving it a try. My arms are weak enough that I wasn’t sure I could pull myself up — and I wasn’t able to on the first try. But the second try worked! I popped right up.

It was such a sensation! Like a thousand pounds of nostalgia suddenly dumped on my head — memories of Lake Powell and Lake Mead and the little reservoirs around St. George (my hometown), came flooding back.

I was wobbly as can be on the wakeboard, but I had a nice ride, tried to improve my form, crossed the wake, and eventually fell without drama or injury. I tried two more times to get up, but my arms were too shot by then.

The next day I was sore in every muscle I have. Hah! A vivid reminder I could really stand to do some strength exercises.

I don’t know if I’ll take more turns behind the boat this summer — I find myself nervous about having a hard wipeout and hurting myself — but it was sure fun to try.

Have you ever had a chance to waterski or wakeboard? It’s one of those activities where you can improve quickly. If someone had a chance to try it, with six 10 minutes lessons over a couple weeks, I’ll bet they’d be feeling quite confident at wakeboarding by the end of those two weeks.

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That’s all for now. Feel free to comment on anything I mentioned above, or whatever’s on your mind. I’ve been sending out more than the usual number of newsletters over the last week — I hope I’m not wearing you out.

kisses,
Gabrielle

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Hi, I’m Gabrielle Blair and this is my newsletter. It’s completely free to access and read, but if you feel so moved to support my work, please consider a paid newsletter subscription: just $5/month or save money with the $50/annual sub. You can also go way above and beyond by becoming a Founding Member at $75. Or, some of you have let me know you’d rather send money directly via Paypal and Venmo (@gabrielle-blair). Thank you! Seriously, thank you. Support from readers keeps this newsletter ad and sponsor-free.