Tomorrow (Tuesday) is pub day for BURIED IN SHAMROCKS, Lisa’s second book in her Irish Bed & Breakfast Mysteries. With Winter Storm Hernando bearing down on the Northeast, she considers the super-positive, flip sides of Things That Go Wrong…
’Twas the day before Book Launch when all through the town, not a creature was stirring with snow dumping down…
The weather forecasters here in New England were completely blown away by the sudden historic Nor’easter barreling our way. Somehow, a major winter storm hadn’t been on their radar. Literally.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my pub day for BURIED in SHAMROCKS, and we’ll be buried in snow. Up to 2 ft. in Boston.
For the record, here’ s a pic of our house right now, with last week’s snow. Just a dustin’, I know. But you can tell from the ominous snow sky that things are starting to brew.
New Englanders pretend not to care much about the crazy, ever-changing weather—but secretly, they enjoy the drama. It’s always a handy topic of conversation with friends and strangers alike, whenever we walk in …anywhere.
Unlike the weather pros, I was not surprised about this monstah storm. Why? Let’s just say that BURIED IN SHAMROCKS has had an Olympic-style pre-pub mogul run, universe-wise.
That’s okay. The past year has been chock full of learning experiences for me. I’ve learned that it’s very important to look for the silver lining when things go wrong. Here are a few examples:
~I’d planned an unboxing video for this book. My very first one, which I was pretty nervous about. I figured I’d open the box ahead of time and lightly tape it back up (I can’t be trusted with knives). But when the boxes arrived from my publisher, they were completely soaked on the bottom with icy slush and dirt. The delivery service had thoughtfully put the boxes in see-through trash bags before dumping them several feet from my mailbox on a main road. You know, as a fun surprise to find in the dark with a flashlight (just like Nancy Drew!). Good news: I found them! Bad news: In a snowdrift. Of course the bags had ripped, and I had to dry the books with a hair dryer. (Not the first time in my publishing career I’ve had to do that, either.)
SILVER LINING: I got to buy new plastic storage boxes for the books. Much nicer than corrugated cardboard.
~ I bought a new sweater to wear for my launch party. I spotted it on Pinterest, a helpful sponsored ad linked to my You’ve Got Mail inspo board. The first photo is what I thought I was getting. The second is what I received. I learned that I am done ordering clothes without seeing them in real life first (the sweater was about 5X too big, and the fake knit was printed on some sort of slimy material even my cat ran from).
SILVER LINING: After endless annoying bot chats and emails, I did get my money back. And I will save soo much money in the future.
~With the bakery in town closed and the grocery shelves empty due to Le Déluge, there was zero chance of picking up a cake for any launch day festivities. I’d had the concept of a party plan, but oh well.
SILVER LINING: The grocery store did have whoopie pies, a New England favorite. And BURIED IN SHAMROCKS is set in Massachusetts—perfect! I brought a few home to practice my cutting skills for a real cake on St. Paddy’s Day—22 days to go!
And it better not be snowing.
Readers, have you ever had special plans go sideways? How did you reboot?
Chicks on the Case 
OMG, that sweater!!!
my sideways experience is similar. I bought a Christmas dress online that I thought would be perfect to wear to celebrate the release of a Christmas themed book. The dress didn’t remotely look like it did in the photos. But I wore it anyway, turning it into a jokey warning, using photos of me in it as an example of what happens when you fall for those ads.
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Lisa, I’m so sorry about the sweater snafu. Wow. How could they??? Regarding plans going awry, pull up a chair. LOL! Very long story short, I don’t cope well. Ha!
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Even the snow storm and the books casually tossed into a snow drift didn’t prepare us for … The Sweater. Sounds like good timing to escape to San Francisco! 🙂
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Lisa, I’m glad you can get the bright side.
Every publishing date I had in 2025 went sideways. Delays of one kind or another meant canceling or not even planning launch day events. Silver lining? I have a barrel of stories for the future!
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First, Congratulations on your coming release! I lived your Book #1, and I’m looking forward to reading Book #2 .
I’m so sorry about your pre-launch preparations. And, yes, I totally agree with you on the “silver-lining” perspective.
I experienced a few plans that hadn’t gone as planned, I took some deep breath and think, think, think..of some possible other options to save the snafu situations. Think on the bright side and count my blessings.
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That sweater, Lisa! So glad you’re looking at silver linings. And I’m wishing you the very best for launch day!!
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Congrats on the new book! thanks for the reminder to look for the silver lining. Now, if I can figure out a silver lining for not sleeping well last night….
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I’m still trying to figure out how they managed to get a photo of that sweater that looked like it did….
And your post got me curious: Where did that phrase, “silver lining,” come from? Turns out it’s pretty old–the bard, John Milton, old. It’s from his 1634 piece, Comus, which includes this: “Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud / Turn forth her silver lining on the night?”
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Yikes! That sweater!
Your post reminds me of a card I once received: “When life gives you lemons (open card) tuck them in your bra. Couldn’t hurt, might help.”
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That sweater is something to behold, Lisa! I’ll count my blessings that I haven’t had anything important go sideways for me. Unless you count my wedding. But it was my brother who paid the price, not me. You may remember a big power outage across a big area in Aug of 2003. It happened the Thursday night before my Saturday wedding. My brother’s flight from San Francisco to Cleveland was canceled. Trooper that he is, he and his family flew to Atlanta, and he drove all night so they could be there for my wedding. He has always been my hero! My 6 year old nephew was an adorable ring bearer and he and his brother and sister had such fun ringing the bell at the church. These great memories were only made possible by my brother refusing to miss my wedding, no matter what!
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