in the spotlight

So, I want to welcome all the new readers and say thanks for coming to Quail Ridge Books tonight! At the moment, I'm wired and burning off the good energy from the event (that, and a plate of extremely salty french fries consumed at Tripps around 10pm). I had a lot of fun, and felt a little like a celebrity, what with my name in big letters on the sign in the window (and they spelled it correctly!), the director's chairs, the lights, mic, camera, and all those who came to say hi following the discussion.

Part celebrity, part fraud.

I mean, I hope you haven't come to Kairos Calling with high expectations. I'm no savvy podcaster. And I'm definitely not a professional blogger--heck, if you only knew how hard it was for me to figure out how to pick the background color... Not even close. That Stacey had so much faith in me means a lot. Thanks, Stacey! But, I am a writer. That much I know. I felt like I didn't get to talk about that enough tonight. I felt like I didn't promote that.

So, newbies, you can read the innaugural post titled Welcome to get a feel of how and why this blog started, and what my intentions are (although, the definition of kairos I originally posted sucks. I have a much better one--in fact, I rehearsed it just in case I was asked the question tonight. Just ask). They (my intentions) seem to be changing as time passes, though. I'm still talking about the love of the craft, and the love of my process. But I sense that as my readership increases, so will my scope. Maybe. Or, maybe I'll keep doing what I'm doing. We'll see.

Anyhoo, I got a little taste of the spotlight tonight, and I'm feeling a bit in the spotlight now that I'm getting new readers, and unknown ones, at that. Or maybe a better metaphor is caught in the headlights. Up until now, readership of this blog has come by word-of-mouth, namely my words and my mouth (or via email, really). And even though I tend to write as if I have a larger, devoted audience (ok, devoted maybe be stretching it, but I have at least two regulars!), I've known in the back of my mind that it's been a small, intimate group. This is my first real experience with getting my writing out to the masses, so to speak (although, maybe I'm having delusions of grandeur here), and truth be told, it's a new, unfamiliar feeling. A little scary, even. Will they like it? Will they like me? Will they like what I have to say? And yet, I think it's cool. Might I develop a following? Might it lead to bigger and better things? A demand for my novels, for instance? Might I start podcasting my shorter works? Ahh, the possibilities are endless!

One thing is for sure--the new audience awareness will motivate me to try to write every day, or almost every day. I'm still not there yet. And maybe I'll come out of my shell a bit more in terms of sharing a profile, and using my name, for starters...

An attendee tonight asked me, "What's next?" For starters, keep working on my current novel w/ my PIC (partner in crime, newbies). In fact, before I started this post, I got the latest pages from her, a scene narrated in an email to the protagonist-- loved it! I was telling Stacey tonight at Tripps following the event how juiced I am by this collaboration. It continues! Keep writing, chickadee!
And that's what's next: keep writing.
namaste, folks. Enjoy.