Public Reading

I have been itching today to write a blog post. I have missed writing here each day, and, while I'm certain I won't be full of blog posts immediately, it's certainly something I'm planning to work on.

As I mentioned in my previous post on Friday I read an extract of my work at uni.  I realise that many people are terrified of any public performance, but I have to say I don't really understand why.  Perhaps it's because I've had acting training, but I don't hate standing up there sharing my work.  Sure, I was a tiny bit nervous beforehand, which certainly wasn't helped by the fact that my nose started itching half-way through, but I can't see why it bothers people.

I enjoy shouting out to the world - this is me, here I am, judge all you like, I don't care.  I'm not sure if I've always been this way but I honestly don't care that much whether I do a public reading or not.  It's more difficult if I know the audience personally, but even that is becoming less of an issue the more I do it.  However, the problem I mainly have is the one-to-one stuff.  Maybe it's because there's something comforting about a crowd - if anyone wants to do anything negative, they either have to get the whole audience to move with them or keep it to themselves.  And generally speaking they keep it to themselves as they don't know how the rest of the audience would react (at least, that's been my experience).  Not to mention that I know how to fake it.  Faking confidence is a huge help in situations like this.

Okay, I seem to have gone off on a complete tangent (and I'm really not sure where I'm headed so I'm going to stop here).  My point is - don't be afraid to stand up in front of the crowd and share your opinions and your work; the chances are, you're not going to be eaten alive (though I'm in no way guaranteeing your safety).