No One Wants You to Fail
The deadline is looming and you’re wondering, not for the first time, if you should apply for a Killer Nashville panel spot. The fearless side of you says, why not? Even if you apply, you may not get selected. After all, it’s your first conference. Maybe, even, your first book. Should you fill out the form and hit “Submit?”
In a weak moment (or perhaps one of false bravado) you decide to go for it. And now you’re second (and third) guessing the wisdom of that decision. Perhaps you’re even thinking of backing out—surely there’s a long list of authors more than willing to replace you, right?
Well, yes, almost certainly. And you wouldn’t be the first (or the last) author to have a change of heart. But before you send in your regrets, there’s one thing you need to remember:
No one wants you to fail.
Think about that for a moment. Have you ever sat in the audience while a speaker struggled? Of course you have. Did you snicker at their discomfort? Take pleasure in watching them bumble and stumble along? Or did you feel their pain and embarrassment, almost as though it were your own? My guess is you silently rooted for them, knowing they’d been rehearsing for days, if not weeks.
I’ll be honest. Public speaking in any form doesn’t come naturally to me—I think of myself as an introverted extrovert. In other words, I “can” be an extrovert when it’s required, but I’m happiest when I’m alone in my office making stuff up. Preferably in pajama pants, my dog lying under my desk.
It seems like only yesterday that I was nervously pacing the halls of the host hotel before my very first panel. It was 2015, my debut year at Bouchercon Raleigh, and the organizers had put me on a panel with Tom Franklin, the American Guest of Honor.
Tom Franklin! Author of the Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. It doesn’t get much scarier than that. But I took more than a couple of deep breaths and told myself I could do it.
Was I perfect? No. Not even close. But I survived to tell the tale. And you will too. Because the only way you’ll really fail is to never try.
But hey, you’re an author. You already know that.
Judy Penz Sheluk is the bestselling author of Finding Your Path to Publication and Self-publishing: The Ins & Outs of Going Indie, as well as two mystery series: the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including the Superior Shores Anthologies, which she also edited. Find her at www.judypenzsheluk.com.
A note from Killer Nashville: We’d love to see your interest in panels for this year’s conference. Click here if you’re registered and would like to take part in a panel.
