My First Reading

Carol Henderson (www.carolhenderson.com) my wonderful Chapel Hill writing coach, blogged about my first book reading event, which she hosted at her house.

“So here’s my question: When you go to a book reading, what do you expect? And when you’re the one giving the reading, what do you expect of yourself?

I hosted an event on Sunday for Michele Murdock and had fun helping her prepare for her first-ever reading.

 
Here’s what she expected of herself. She wanted to:

–make everybody feel at ease, right away, by using humor–as in, “don’t worry folks I’m not nervous. And this event will be lively and fun for everybody and I won’t go on too long.”

–express her enthusiasm for the subject matter (This biography is about Dorothy Stang, an American nun who worked for social justice and the environment in indigent Brazil).

The Audience

–read excerpts that showed her style in engaging scenes.

–give an understanding of why she wrote the book.

–discuss some of what she experienced (and endured) while writing the book.

–tell what she planned to do to promote the book.

–reveal how writing the book changed her.

And she did it, well.”

I rehearsed with Carol and with my ever–supportive husband, Peter, and a good thing it was too. At first, my excerpts were too long and so was my narrative.  We cut and parsed it and that’s why it went well!  And the wine was well chosen!