ADVENTURE: Author Reading

I've always been a bit of a wall flower-- at least in large groups of people I don't know (i.e., three or more). I'm also a wall flower in large groups of people I do know, come to think of it... But as an indie author, I know I need to get out of my comfort zone and be sociable. So last night I did just that... sort of. It was a great experience to listen to other local authors read their material. However, I was once again the proverbial square peg. In a group of about 15 other writers, I was the only novelist. The rest were all poets and essayists-- very talented poets and essayists at that.

I did speak to three people and even shook one person's hand!! At this open-mic event hosted at the charming So & So Books at 704 N. Person Street in Raleigh, I was able to read about two and a half pages of Chater 1: Sudden Flight. There was a five minute time limit. They had to stop me mid sentence... I wanted to crawl underneath a rock. THE ONLY NOVELIST IN THE GROUP????

But experience is its own reward. Next time, I'm going to shake at least two hands and speak to at least four people!! Just call me the The Little Engine That Could.

Thank you to Main Street Rag Publishers for sponsoring this event. Of course, they mostly publish poetry and short stories. Hence, I need to keep looking, and... develop better networking skills.

Right now, I'm trying to get Herbie the Elf out of my head because he's singing, "Why am I such a mis-fit? I am not just a knit-wit..."