Reading, reading!

The Mark Webster reading on Friday went reasonably well. I'd been up till two on Friday morning trying to work on revisions for the story. Then I woke at eight to do more revisions. I didn't complete the final draft till a little after lunch time, so I spent most of the afternoon reading the 23 pages out loud, and rewriting my thank-you speech. The speech I had to memorize since I didn't want to be referring to notes while saying thank-you to a bunch of people - it seems a little insincere. Then again, the folks at the Oscars always go up with bits of paper to remind themselves who to thank. But I'm no movie star and am just an earnest young writer.

I mis-pronounced several things in the essay. But I got more confident as the reading went on. Thanks to Boon for helping my mom video the whole thing. Thanks to my friends who showed up. It's really nice to be loved.

Next time I'm up there, I'll be introducing my friend, Michelle. That will be fun.

Fun also comes in the form of post-reading parties, and Joel, who introduced me at my reading, threw a one. Mexican food, witty conversation (a few jibes about my height), good times. It's hard to talk to my friends sometimes because they're so tall and I have to shout up to them. A friend noted that at the reading, when I said, "Can everyone hear me back there?", he thought it might have been more appropriate if I'd said, "Can everyone see me back there?" Honestly, the mike covered about half my face. But that wasn't the reason people were there anyway.

I'm getting an audio recording soon, I think. But I don't think I'll be listening to it, or watching the video Boon helped with, for some time. Need to distance myself from the event, get over the intensity of it all.

Posted by Monoceros at October 25, 2004 1:34 AM