I got the idea for this blog post from an author talk with Jennifer Braunfels and Jen Dupree that I attended at The Wells Library recently.
Jen Dupree mentioned the blog entitled “Writers on Not Writing” and right away I thought, “Hey! I am a writer who’s not writing!”.
I thought of it again today and then I thought, “Hey! I could change that!”
So, here I am, changing that.
Today, I am a writer who is writing.
I have been giving a lot of talks at local libraries. For my most recent one, I personally invited and Facebook invited a lot of people.
A lot.
Plus, it was a full moon in Gemini (my sign)! At 7:05pm! And my talk started at 7:00PM!
I know this is a busy time of year for us all, but I was expecting at least 10 people or so.
When it 6:59pm and still no one had come, I began to consider that maybe I had saturated my geographic location.
If no one came (as I have heard sometimes happens, but thankfully had never happened to me), my Plan B was to have my husband make a video of me reading so I could post it on my YouTube Channel (still evolving–don’t judge it). At least this would be time well spent, right?
What I learned: Don’t accept a time slot that starts when the library is CLOSED. Duh. I’m not sure why they even did that… oh, wait. Yes, I do. I took the slot because I was hoping to sell a lot of books before Christmas, and this was the only December slot they had. They had one slot available in January, but I thought people might not come out in the cold when they weren’t possibly out already, shopping for the holidays (books make great gifts!). Note: the temperature was in the 20’s last night.
And then, at 7:05pm, one person came into the room.
My audience had arrived. She probably didn’t really feel like going out, but she wanted to support a fellow writer/author, and guess what?
SHE DID.
Thank you again, Katherine. ❤
For some reason, this song was in my head on my way home from the event, so I am including it here for your listening pleasure:
Public speaking has never (ever, ever) been my forte. I remember the first time I had to speak in front of a group of people, in a debate class. I almost fainted from hyperventilation and sheer terror.
As an adult, I don’t fare much better (on the inside, at least). I think I’m okay, or okay-ish, but when the time comes, it turns out, I am not, or not-ish.
Have you ever seen the movie, Broadcast News? The scene where Aaron (played by actor Albert Brooks) experiences flop sweats when he does his first live newscast? Well, that was me. Did I mention it was 99 degrees that day? The air conditioner was no match for the room full of people, the heat of the day, and my angst.
Turns out, it didn’t matter. I felt the fear (oh, man, did I!) but I did it anyway.
Everyone who came to listen was very kind and gracious. They all made me feel welcome. They didn’t mind that I had stop to blot my face a couple of times during my talk. Some even gave me some (valuable) feedback about what they thought I did especially well.
For which I am forever grateful.
Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker 
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