Just “Breathe”…

Two weekends ago, I found myself rocketing towards Muskegon on a gorgeous fall Friday. The trees were starting to show off their colors, but I barely noticed. I was too focused on running through my notes for the group of writers I was going to speak to in an hour or so and trying to keep my butterflies “flying in formation”.

Yep, I was nervous….more about the unfamiliar situation than the actual speaking. It had been a while since I had spoken to non-college students, and never to a group of writers. Plus, there is always another level of concern when filling in for someone else who has way better credentials than you. One of the Media professors at Cornerstone was planning on speaking, but she had a family wedding come up, so she asked me if I could take over.

Of course, I said yes…partly because I hardly ever say no and mostly because it would be a great experience on so many levels. I could beef up my resumé and maybe learn a little about the writing world along the way.

My two sessions were “A Crash Course in New Media: Publicizing your Writing” and “Media Interviews”. The new media session was first…of course, since it was the one I was more nervous about. But, my fears were unfounded, because from the moment I started, I fell into the groove and the hour was over before I knew it. The participants interacted, asked questions, and were scribbling notes furiously. You could just sense their level of passion for getting the word out about their writing in non-traditional ways.

My media interview session was the next day, but I arrived early for some one-on-ones with a few participants. I met a youth minister, a few novel writers, a devotional creator, a couple great bloggers, and my Freshman Rhetoric professor from 1995…to name a few. Everyone was so excited about their work…it was infectious!

The default small talk question was “what are you working on?”…I kept revising my answer as the weekend progressed. I moved from, “Well, I have a blog” to “I want to take my blog to the next level…I AM a writer!” (Like I said, it was very inspiring.)

All in all, it was a great experience. I can now put “professional speaker” on my resumé…I own a set of professional headshots…just in case…I feel more confident about calling myself a writer, even though it is just my little chicken scratches on my lowly blog…and I even got some time “off” from being a Mom for a few hours…

So, Saturday afternoon, as I headed home, I was actually able to enjoy the fall colors. I had survived…with flying colors, and left the door open for speaking there again in the future…can’t beat that!

— Post From My iPhone