It’s the day before the big launch and butterflies are fluttering at my rib cage. No, it’s not my first launch. Yes, I still get nervous.

Don’t get me wrong. I love launches and parties and celebrations of all kinds. I am tickled pink at friends who make a huge effort to be there. Thank you 🙂 It means more to me than you can possibly imagine.

This time around, I am the co-author of a riveting memoir. It’s a new role for me and one I am embracing. So now I am preparing madly. What extract shall I read? How big should I make the Blue Door cake? Will everyone really come? What shall I wear? The last question seems frivolous, right? But it is the one most in need of an answer. The latest diet derailed a few weeks ago, so my little black number is a little tight across the you-know-where. How much can one really lose on a two day water diet? But I digress…

If this sounds ridiculously stressful, let me say once again – I really do love these occasions! For those of you who’ve ever spent time on the stage, you’ll get what I’m saying. As a child, I waited in the wings so often that it’s impossible to count. I’ve watched excellent dancers perform just before my turn and dash my hopes of being placed. I’ve had competitors whisper – “Don’t think you’re going to win this, because you are not!” My stomach has twisted into an entangled mess and even mum’s eggnog has become too much to swallow. I’ve learnt to grow quiet and find the courage, which is hidden deep down. And yet, when the first notes cued my entrance, the butterflies helped me fly through the air. The lights on stage were balanced by the darkness in the theatre. I could not see my audience but I could feel their energy and it spurred me on to dance from the heart. I did not learn that much at school but I absorbed everything I needed to know, from the stage.  Performance begins in the heart…always.

So tomorrow evening it’s not about Meg, Angie (aka Gail) and Penny. It’s about the buzz we create with you in the magical space Linda provides at Exclusives. Behind the Blue Door no longer belongs to the authors. It belongs in the world, to encourage us all to open our own hearts and heal. Most of all, it is there to remind us that our pasts do not need to shape our futures and love is truly the centre of the universe.

When the curtains open on Thursday evening, our hearts will be open to yours!