Reading Voice

One of the things I dreaded about writing a book would be having to read it aloud to someone. I had this ridiculous belief that I could get away with just talking about my book. But in the last four year, I've had increasing opportunities to read to others and learned a number of things - mostly about myself.

1. People come to readings for different reasons. Some are coming because they want to hear a work in an author's voice using the pacing, intonation, and tone the book was written in (I've had a good time with this, adding my Cajun accent to many of my readings). Other people are coming to support local artists and be part of a community. The funniest bunch are people who think they are meeting someone famous before they get famous (this is funny because most of us will never be a household name; sorry to make you uncool). Of those that come, I think the second reason is my favorite. The literary community is what keeps me writing, keeps me wondering and thinking, and keeps me engaged as a whole. And I've found people who appreciate local art have more insight into the world than most. Turn off your news and get to a local reading to see what people really think.

2. The voice in my head is different from the voice I read with to audiences. And this is intentional. At first, I read exactly as I do while lying on the couch, narrating with my internal voice. I got the feedback that I am reading too fast and too flat. It took me a while to wrap my head around the idea that reading is more of a performance. Maybe I don't do voices (well sometimes I do), but reading aloud gives the emotional background you would not get otherwise. I've found myself paying closer attention to children's book authors because they completely understand this. Although, don't expect me to start eliciting crowd participation. "Can you say climate change, everyone?"

3. That said, reading to a group is skill that must be honed. I foolishly thought there were just some people who are better at reading publicly than me. I've gone up to more than a few authors after their readings to (awkwardly) compliment them on their reading style. Every one of them (awkwardly) responded that they'd taken theater in high school or they'd clocked dozens of hours reading work in front of their English/MFA classes. So if you caught me reading my work in the past, I hope I get a chance to read to you again to show you how much I've been working on this. If you do, come by and tell me about it so I can (awkwardly) thank you.

And if you have stuff you've been working on, and you are scared to read it, feel free to reach out to me. I will be honored to be your first audience. From what I can tell, reading out loud is the only way to find your reading voice.