CL Pauwels at Large

Today I’m taking stock of the year since FORTY & OUT was released at the fantastic Killer Nashville conference: exhilaration, terror, comfort zones stretched beyond recognition, lessons learned. And where do I go from here?

My head hasn’t stopped spinning since I signed with Deadly Writes Publishing in March 2014. Overwhelming doesn’t begin to describe the Debut Book Panel in Nashville, but what I remember most are the friendly faces of folks who became fast friends in only four short days.

Right on the heels of the conference was the “official” launch at our local Barnes & Noble – overwhelming and terrifying! But also gratifying, with an unanticipated SRO crowd. I’m thrilled to be able to pay forward their hospitality by referring fellow authors there.

Like a plate juggler, I kept up the spinning with appearances at local bookstores, book festivals, and even broke into the fun world of book clubs with the gracious ladies of Springfield’s Sister2sister group. I got to lecture at the Yellow Springs Library NaNoWriMo kick-off and the Antioch Writers’ Workshop, and served as the evening’s entertainment for an Eastern Star honors banquet. Publishing a book also gained me access to a terrific anthology of sorts – the Bake, Love, Write recipe collection.

But in all that busy-ness, I’ve never learned to get past the dreaded imposter syndrome. And as I finish book number two in the Jadz series (now with beta readers!), I’m still beset with a lack of confidence I just can’t shake.

Does that ever go away? Will there be a time when #TBT will look back on those misgivings as ancient history?

And as I finished writing this, a timely graphic appeared on my Facebook feed:

Worth remembering as I begin the next year of my journey.