A couple of weeks ago, we had an unusual day - a first for us. Early start to the day and we were were off to Prestbury in East Cheshire, where Andy gave a talk on the history of stained glass. at a Probus group. This is one of the offshoots of his small business Moulton Glass, and he gives short (45 minute) presentations to community groups. Moulton Glass makes and repairs/restores leadlight windows, plus we have a presence at various craft fairs in the area, selling decorative items. We even run wiorkshops! But since he's been visiting the local WI groups, word has got out and he's now being contacted by the National Women's Register, Probus and the U3A. He's a good speaker and people seem to enjoy listening. We're currently booked throughout this year and into 2027 and branching outside Cheshire now. |
| There wasn't that much wine! |
Then later on in the afternoon, it was my turn. Northwich's new local bookshop Cover2Cover invited me to host a talk about my books and writing - there are a number of us local authors and there have been and will be more. So I took wine (of course) and some cakey nibbles, packed up some examples of my books with some extra stock and headed off for an hour and a half of talking about myself!I've done numerous talks, panels and readings over the years - both alone and as part of a group. I've even been paid to lead writing workshops (and that's a story in itself - when despite being 'sold-out', only one person actually bothered to put in an appearance on a wet and cold morning in Oldham! I got paid anyway, so there's that and the one attendee went away happy with a stack of free books I'd persuaded a publisher to send me for the event).
But the imposter syndrome doesn't go away - in fact if anything it gets worse as I get older. Despite having a respectable back-catalogue now, there's still that apprehension. The what if nobody turns up to my party nerves.
 |
| The audience loved it all! |
I don't enjoy doing readings. I don't like the sound of my own voice. I'd never consider reading my own audio books, even if I had the tech ability to edit the files myself. I can just about manage Audacity software, but I'm not competent enough to edit out individual words and sounds. And reading aloud to an audience has its own challenges. I have a fair bit of swearing in my thrillers and I always have to gauge the audience to see what I can get away with! I also like to monitor attention spans while readings - who is doom-scrolling, or yawning or fidgeting. I'll skip paragraphs occasionally or shorten sentences, all while keeping the thing going and making sense. It's not easy.But it went well. People turned up, didn't pass out from boredom and I even sold a few books! Sometimes you just have to step outside your comfort zone and do stuff!
Thanks to another local indie author and good friend John Harding for the creative photography!
www.debbiebennett.co.uk
www.moultonglass.co.uk
Comments