The pandemic shut down so many activities, but now those of us who’ve gotten our vaccinations are slowly returning to what we used to think of as ‘normal.” One of those normal events is Book Signings. In getting ready for yesterday’s post on my personal blog about my upcoming book signing in Fort Worth, I searched through a ton of pics on my phone and computer. I was surprised to see how many pics I had for the 15 to 20 book signings I’ve participated in over the years, including this one with my first published book.

Sometimes they were with other authors. Like this one at the Globe Life Park where the Texas Rangers play baseball. These are easier to pull off because you’re not the only one asking folks to attend and setting everything up is usually done by some organizing group.

But lots of times, it’s just me, and I’ve contacted people, and I do the PR for the event. These are more difficult. It’s like I’m shouting, “Here I am. I’m here. I’m important. I can make your life better.” (if only for a moment.)

Years, and years ago, I ran for a seat on the Fort Worth ISD Board of Education—an un-paid position. That first campaign took almost $17 K of our personal money, topped off by other monies that I had to ask people to contribute. Talk about a tough cold call!  Really, really hard for me to ask people to give money for my campaign. But of course, that’s how it’s done. Some of you may be surprised at the cost of a local school board campaign. But the district I ultimately was elected to represent had over 77 thousand people in it, way larger than many small towns and communities. At the time, the district had 77 thousand students.

The point of all this is to say you have to have confidence in yourself or your product. As a school board candidate the product was me. I did believe I could make a difference on the board, and people have told me I did. As authors our product is us and our books. But if we don’t believe our books (ourselves) are worth sharing, why should anyone else consider investing in us and our books?

Let’s take it a step farther. I believe we all have something to give to the world. Maybe it’s a little something, maybe it’s a big something or falls somewhere in between. But only we can do that job. No one else sees the world exactly the way we do. Sharing our perspective is important. Listening to other’s perspective is also important. It’s how we grow.

I can only wish that we all had the self-confidence of my then three-year old granddaughter who burst into her mother’s new Pilates’s Studio with her arms thrown wide and these words: “I’m here!”

Wouldn’t it be great if we all had her confidence? The world really needs us to be here, to make a difference.

How involved in your world are you? Do you serve on committees or boards for your job, PTA, your church, synagogue, maybe your neighborhood association? Do you have the confidence of my granddaughter? I know everyone juggles a lot of responsibilities, and we do different things in different times in our lives. Please stop by and share your thoughts. I’d love to hear from you.

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