Blog | Alison Morton Author

Look out, world, here comes INCEPTIO!

INCEPTIO was launched in style on Tuesday evening. How to describe this feeling of elation still with me? Yes, it was hard work, yes, we had the worst March weather for years, but yes, it was fun! And the pleasure generated by the smiles, laughter and enthusiasm on Tuesday is still with me.

They came, they saw, they were conquered, as Gaius Julius Caesar didn’t say.

So, how was it? While my son Philip and critique partner Denise Barnes poured champagne, my wonderful husband Steve took a few photos…

Outside before setting up

In full swing!

The Mayor and Mayoress of Tunbridge Wells, Cllr John Smith and Mrs Rebecca Smith

Going well…

Well, I got then laughing Anna-Marie Buss (second row), Ian Sharp, Sue Cook, Denise Barnes (front row)

The room was full!

Sue Cook telling a good joke!

Sue always said she’d be my first customer at my launch.

Signing INCEPTIO

Chatting with Dolina Hendry

My sincere thanks go to The staff of Waterstones Tunbridge Wells, led by Events Manager, Charlotte Sirman; their patience and helpfulness were outstanding. And to Sue Cook, not least for travelling from Oxfordshire in the snow and ice, but for her consistant and enthusiastic support over several years.

More photos here

And yes, somebody did ask when the next book was out!

Pre-launch nerves?

INCEPTIO 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…

INCEPTIO - The big launch cometh!

Bubbly, great company, a fun ‘book do’, author signing, the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Sue Cook and other book world luminaries – what’s not to like? Come and join me!

French launch of INCEPTIO

Enthusiastic book buyers

A French bar, book lovers and my publication day – what a combination!

When Paperback Jan (Jan Smith) who runs the paperback exchange in the Deux-Sèvres urged me to have a mini-launch in France, I wasn’t quite sure.

The bash at Waterstones Tunbridge Wells on 12 March was to be the official UK launch. Would anybody be interested here in France?

I needn’t have worried. I put out an invitation on various English groups’ websites and Jan spread the word during her February visits in the region.

The Bar de la Paix is where we have our monthly book club and where Jan brings her paperbacks each month. I’d been interviewed the week before by the Le Courrier de l’Ouest and a reporter from La Nouvelle République turned up on the day. Excellent.

Scarcely had I arrived than I was pounced upon by the reporter and by people waving euros in my face! It was mayhem, but wonderful mayhem.