Writers Read

Here’s a thing you might not know about writers.

We like to be alone.

Okay, maybe not like but like in the sense that we want to write, whether it be our bread and butter or a hobby until we can make it our bread and butter, and to do so requires an environment without other people present.

Get it?

This doesn’t mean that we’re all introverts and hermits unwilling to be around people, but it does, at least in my case, mean that I see people less than I would like.

We are also more accustomed to biting our nails nervously as others read our work rather than standing in front of them and reading our words aloud.

Which is why when I received an email telling me a short nonfiction piece I submitted had been not only accepted, but that I would be reading it in front of a real live audience in NYC, I felt a little numb.

This might sound unbelievable, being that you’re interacting with my words through this little blog here, but I don’t often write short pieces. For the past three years, I’ve been working on novels ranging from 40,000 to 80,000 words.

But submitting short fiction is a great way to get exposure into the writing world, so I’ve been trying. When I saw a brief asking for a 650-word piece about hair, I immediately knew the story I would tell*. The memory practically wrote itself.

*To be shared here at another time? We shall see…

The Hair show was on a Sunday afternoon at City Winery. In hindsight, I should’ve told my family and friends, but this used-to-being-alone-and-nervous-about-sharing-her-words-aloud writer told no one*, terrified to have her loved ones make the haul to the city only to discover I’d somehow gotten it all wrong. My piece wasn’t accepted. I was invited to be an audience member and not a performing writer.

*Except Hubby and my hairdresser.

I’m not saying my logic makes sense.

I approached the event uncertain and again ready to be told this was a major hoax someone who dislikes me very much had concocted. The irrationality of my fears was made immediately clear as I began meeting the other writers and they shared their experiences of attending and submitting to Writers Read and of other similar organizations and events.

After lunch and a quick practice, thirteen writers who’d never met before were suddenly bonded. We headed into a packed room and took our places.

To my surprise, I wasn’t as nervous as I know is possible. Nothing like the times I’ve stood to play a violin solo and my legs wobbled and bow arm shook so much it sounded like I was doing vibrato*.

*I wasn’t.

It’s difficult to explain how transformed I felt after the day’s events. Sharing a stage with other people who are passionate about the crafting of words did something wonderful within me, and I have Writers Read to thank. I was now empowered with possibility. Despite being alone for hour after hour in front of my computer, I had the opportunity to not only read my work, but to do it with other incredible writers, now friends.

Writers Read is a nonprofit organization which, from what I experienced, is a place that wants to celebrate passionate writers by letting them stand on a stage and share their words.

You, yes YOU, can submit to perform in their upcoming show!