Pre-launch nerves?

nervousINCEPTIO launches at Tunbridge Wells Waterstones tomorrow at 7pm. If you’ve been watching this blog, you probably know this.  😉  Am I excited? Nervous? Confident?

My honest answer is that I haven’t had time to think about it. All I can focus on right now are the things still to do: pack my notes, get the guest book ready, check the banner stand, easel, photos, spare box of books, check outfit, polish shoes, check drinks and nibbles.

If I start thinking ahead to the time I will stand up in front of a room full of people and talk for thirty minutes about me and INCEPTIO, I might give way to a little wobble.

At the moment I see the launch evening tomorrow as the  the end of a long journey, the place I’ve dreamed of being. Having a beautiful-looking book and a bunch of five-star reviews already are terrific confidence-boosters.

While writing notes for my talk and probably the weeks before, if I’m honest, I’ve been forgetting how to spell words, taken the wrong shopping list with me, put things down in the house in wrong places. But nothing has been terminal.

I think the main thing is not to rush around in reaction to a surge of panic. Stop for five seconds, take a deep breath and carry on at three-quarter speed. That’s what I do. Whether it works or not is anybody’s guess, but it calms me.

Will it work tomorrow evening? I’ll let you know in a few days’ time…

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