Knees Knockin'

When David Sedaris spoke in Memorial Auditorium last fall, I was close enough in the second row center seat to notice that he read his work with a pencil in hand. Occasionally, he scribbled something onto the papers. The audience followed Sedaris' humorous antidotes that were at times funny and at others, cringe worthy, with lots of laughs. When he opened up for questions, I shot my arm up in the air and asked something along the lines of, "What are you writing down in your notes?" He responded that when he reads, he makes notes about what works with the audience. Stunned, I sat mulling over that thought, the luxury of feedback. 

I get that some writers just want to write. It's been repeated more than a few times in my creative fiction writing class. Classmates that have to read your story three times to make sense of it, don't qualify as the average reader, but their feedback can be valuable. However, at some point I think it's normal to want someone to actually read a story you've written and, hopefully, to experience something besides boredom as a result. Getting an audiences' reaction to a piece seems like nirvana which is what motivated me to submit a short piece to Women of Appalachia.

My knees might be knocking', but I'm looking forward to seeing how the audience reacts to the stories and poems of my fellow artist and I. Please join us at Arts West on Thursday, October 22, 6:00 p.m.

When David Sedaris spoke in Memorial Auditorium last fall, I was close enough in the second row center seat to notice that he read his work with a pencil in hand. Occasionally, he scribbled something onto the papers. The audience followed Sedaris' humorous antidotes that were at times funny and at others, cringe worthy, with lots of laughs. When he opened up for questions, I shot my arm up in the air and asked something along the lines of, "What are you writing down in your notes?" He responded that when he reads, he makes notes about what works with the audience. Stunned, I sat mulling over that thought, the luxury of feedback. 

I get that some writers just want to write. It's been repeated more than a few times in my creative fiction writing class. Classmates that have to read your story three times to make sense of it, don't qualify as the average reader, but their feedback can be valuable. However, at some point I think it's normal to want someone to actually read a story you've written and, hopefully, to experience something besides boredom as a result. Getting an audiences' reaction to a piece seems like nirvana which is what motivated me to submit a short piece to Women of Appalachia.

My knees might be knocking', but I'm looking forward to seeing how the audience reacts to the stories and poems of my fellow artist and I. Please join us at Arts West on Thursday, October 22, 6:00 p.m.