A Reading
Call me ridiculous. I just drove 45 minutes—45 minutes to and from—to participate in a reading. I was one of nine authors. The reading was at a local library. I had 13 minutes to read. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
In fact, when the facilitator was reading my bio, I thought, Ellen, why don’t you tell the truth? Skip the bullshit about “Pushcart Prize” this and “William Faulkner Contest” that. Delete the “Best of” list and all the other bona fides. Go straight to the heart of the matter. Tell them what you what them to know. Tell them you love writing.
Yes, I wanted to support the organizer in what he’s doing. Mark Burr’s devotion to creating a writing community here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast is admirable. You only do that, expend that energy, because you care about writing. You care about other writers. Read Mark’s story here. Or, if you’re on Facebook, you can follow what’s going on with the reading series. I love this statement of the why of it: “Stories connect us. Readings bring us together.”
That comes close to being a “Lady Bountiful” explanation: I’m so gracious, doing this to support someone else’s passion. I actually do it for myself. This whole writing business isn’t for me if it’s not done in community. Oh, and ha, ha—I sold a copy of When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women.
Do you read your work in public when you have the chance? How do you feel about attending readings? Are you part of a writing community that’s important to you? What keeps your heart in writing?
When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women, Writing community
Joe Hawes
Keep writing and reading and selling. Your happy smile will be your reward
Ellen Morris Prewitt
🙂
Marie A Bailey
Good for you that you participated in that reading. The best communities are supportive communities: writers support writers, readers support writers, and writers support readers by writing good stories.
When I was at a community college, I joined a “literary guild” and participated in a couple of readings. Well, maybe one. Even though I was expected to read directly from the page, I still got stage fright. But I remember how well attended those readings were, and they took place in a rural area.
I think readings might become even more important now, because of AI. People want to see and hear the real writer.
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Ha, readings as a way to thwart AI! That is such a good point. I read a piece last night on a Zoom, and one of the participants said, “I’m an audio book listener, so this has been great.” I never thought of that, how readings fit into the audio book trend. Makes me want to record some readings…
Marie A Bailey
Yes! And especially when it comes to poetry. So often how I “hear” a poem in my head is different from how the poet reads it. Not all authors can pull off reading their own books, but I bet you’d be the best reader for your work 🙂
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Ah, thank you! I do love the different ways poets choose to read their work. and I love the titles of their chapbooks–they are always the best.