Sagittarius by Adora Crooks

Author:Adora Crooks [Crooks, Adora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-17T16:00:00+00:00

What Eric has yet to learn about me is that the best way to get me to do something is to tell me not to do it.

I watch a couple more acts. One woman recites Shakespeare. A man performs a monologue in Italian. Each act is more eclectic than the last, so I don’t feel completely strange taking the stage with my worn little book in my hands.

Still, this part will always get to me.

I’ve done readings in the past. Bookstores, mainly, with tiny sections cornered off where I could read a sample of my work, answer questions, and then sign copies of my book.

But it never gets easier.

Something I’ve always enjoyed about being a writer is the ability to hide. I can hide behind my work. I can hide in vast, fictional landscapes. I can hide in plain sight.

Stepping onstage requires a different kind of courage entirely. To be vulnerable and allow people to see you…

It’s a rush.

A good rush. It’s been so long since I’ve done something like this, and electricity curls through my veins, up my arms, and burrows into my quickly beating heart.

I’m quiet. But I’m what they call an extroverted introvert.

Public speaking recharges batteries I didn’t realize were depleted until now.

The spotlights bounce off my lenses, and I have to adjust my glasses on my face as I turn away from the darkened crowd to examine my dog-eared book.

No one really listens to these things—that’s the point of this room. There’s ambient noise, chatter around the tables. I’m not so sensitive that I need it to be as quiet as a library while I speak; there’s something charming about being background noise.

I don’t preamble the way I normally do during one of my readings—explaining who I am, what the book is about, what the context is. Instead, I dive in:

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