We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carlos Harleaux a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Carlos thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I believe everything happens for a reason and at its appointed time. My first book, Blurred Vision, was released in 2011. Prior to that time, I did about two years of independent research online. Although there was information available, there weren’t nearly as many resources as there are now. At that time in my life, I was 26 and it was honestly a perfect time to start. You can’t write about life experiences well without going through some of the experiences yourself. I’m not sure I would change anything about my experience because it probably would change the person I am today (and possibly not in a favorable way).

Carlos, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an author, poet and publisher (7th Sign Publishing). I live in Dallas, TX and enjoy great food, great conversation, traveling, music (can’t live without it) and anything that involves water (it calms my mind). I’ve always had a love for poetry as far back as I can remember. Writing always came fairly easy to me and I started writing poems for fun in high school. Before I knew it, I had 20, 50, 200, poems stacked up and decided it would be a good idea to put them in a book as a collection. The titles for my first two books came to me in a dream (and kept nagging me), which was how I knew it was something I should pursue. After self-publishing my first book, I started 7th Sign Publishing, a company to help upcoming, indie authors publish their own books. Next year marks the 10-year anniversary for my publishing company. I am preparing to now switch it to a consultancy business model, which has been really exciting. I love helping other people through my own poetry or fiction books and helping others get their stories read by the masses.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Every opportunity isn’t the best use of your time. You have to be strategic. It took me a few years into my author journey to learn that the hard way. One of the first vendor events I participated in remains the worst one I’ve done to this day. I took two days off from work to attend because it started on a Thursday. The event was billed as having lots of foot traffic and lunch for all of the vendors. There were probably no more than 30 people across all three days of the event and the lunch was a third of a six-inch Subway sandwich (no exaggeration). Had I done more research, I probably wouldn’t have invested in the event. Back then, I was fresh and naïve. Now, I think carefully before I commit to certain engagements.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I love when people tell me how something I’ve written has entertained or helped them in some way. Some people call out certain characters from my novels and tell me they remind them of people in their life. There are some more serious ones too. One lady told me one of my books saved her from an abusive relationship. It’s just amazing to be able to impact people through words on a page. Writing is truly a passion for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: peauxeticexpressions.com
• Instagram: @Peauxetic
• Facebook: Carlos Harleaux or Peauxetic Expressions
• Twitter: @Peauxetic
• Youtube: Da Phrozen One (youtube.com/daphrozenone)