A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Thirty-Three

I am working to get ready for my reading next month.  It has been some time since I was asked to read, and I am feeling a bit nervous.  The best way to deal with that, I think, is preparation, so I am working on the things I can do to be sure I will give my best performance.  A big part of that is in selecting and ordering the poems I plan to read, rehearsing them, and just generally getting comfortable reading the material.  I am even considering the question of whether to memorize them.  I would still keep the pages with me, but it can be helpful to be liberated from looking down all the time, and it does provide a level of confidence, for me at least, knowing the material.  I am not certain if I am going to go that far, honestly, as it is a fair amount of material, but I will see.

In all truth, I'm not certain that this reading will have much of an impact for me, but I do not know.  For many poets, a reading is mostly an opportunity to sell books, but I don't yet have any to offer, so that is not a concern for me.  In some ways, I am a bit relieved about that at the moment, as the act of signing books could be rather hard for me, if I am honest, and I am not sure how I would do with that.

But, I think the most important thing, for me, is just being able to present my work to an audience.  It is an honor to be asked to present in a series like this, and I am very much looking forward to the reading next month (August 11th, 3:00 pm at the Book Cellar in Lake Worth, if you happen to be interested and in the area) as an opportunity in that regard.  Whatever it may or may not lead to, I am really excited to have been offered a platform to share some of the poetry I have written.

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