My Big Pulp Reading


On Sunday, I participated in a teleconference for Big Pulp, which was an author reading for their latest magazine, which I have a story in. It was an entertaining experience, and mildly exciting. It's nice to hear one's contemporaries -- to hear what they're writing, what people are writing about and how they react. In college, I used to participate in NOTA (my college's literary magazine) readings, which will surprise anyone who knows me.

It wasn't a big crowd, only 13 call participants. And if you can't see faces, it's hard to know how people react. It's more than just the story, it's also the way you read. If you read too fast, too monotone, too quiet. Lots of things can go wrong. I myself found, as I was reading, lots of things I could have improved on the story -- make the writing tighter, go further with the time travel differences.

Fortunately, I've got two advantages. One is I have some slight nerve damage in my face so I had to have speech therapy as a a kid. As a result, I speak a little slower than normal naturally. I don't know how much slower, it's a different perspective between my own head and "out there". Two, I read to my kids all the time, so I'm practiced. Although, they don't really give feedback. Plus, I often find myself drifting off during the two hundred and fifty-sixth iteration of "Corduroy", so I hope that's not showing through.

Oh, Corduroy.  Will you ever find that button?

Anyway, I thought I'd mention that as a waystation in my quest to become an author. It's always important to get your name out there. And maybe someone will remember me as that guy with the weirdly high male voice who read that funny story about the multiple time travel futures that's not as original as I thought.

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