Last night I had a speaking engagement with Cleveland Humanist Alliance. I had a really great time and it was so nice to meet freethinkers from my home state of Ohio!
This whole process of having my poetry book published and now promoting it has really been quite the journey. I’m a pretty shy and anxious person so I never envisioned myself doing so many speaking engagements. I’m normally a nervous wreck on the day of an event but yesterday felt a little different. I was totally nervous but not to the same degree. Have I finally been doing this long enough that I can relax? Probably not but it’s getting a tiny bit easier.
Even though I was a little more relaxed, last night was difficult. I’ve been sick recently. I had a fever last weekend. I have a cough and my sinuses are killing me. (FYI I’m fully vaccinated so I don’t think it’s covid.) I was just hoping I could make it through. Reading all those poems was tough. I was drinking lots of tea and blowing my nose throughout the presentation. But even with all that, I still think I did a good job.
All of the groups I have spoken to have been extremely welcoming. I’ve met many nice people and even with all the nerves, the presentations have been worth it. I like the discussions we have and it kind of makes me miss spending time with family and friends. I spend a lot of time alone and I normally like it that way but could I actually be craving a little social interaction?
One thing that happened last night that was completely unexpected was the host shared her screen and showed everyone my Valentine’s Day video. Towards the end of my presentations, I always talk about other projects I’m working on. I mention the erotic poetry book and tell people if they’re curious about it, go to my blog and watch the video posted on Valentine’s Day. I thought I was going to pee my pants. I’m proud of that video but it was a little embarrassing listening to my erotic poetry after having read from Free to Roam: Poems from a Heathen Mommy.
If you haven’t seen the video, I’m posting it below. In it, I read three poems from my erotic poetry book. This video is not safe for work or kids.
The speaking engagement I did last night was the last one I have planned right now, but I will be contacting more groups and hope to do more events soon. If you are in a group and up for a little secular poetry, contact me! I would love to speak to your group.
Bye for now!
My poetry book, Free to Roam: Poems from a Heathen Mommy, gives an atheist perspective on being a Midwest Mom. It is for sale on my publisher’s site freethoughthouse.com, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. (Signed copies are available at freethoughthouse.com.)
… Can I Finally Relax?
Oh, no no no. This is possibly the end of the first step, preparation for the more aerobic(? acidic?) warmup, which has been compared to a multi-dimensional light-year triathlon in the Martian atmosphere but with the gravitational pull of Jupiter. Whilst the different tour warmups vary, in general the author needs to run in place on a 3D (fro / aft, side-to-side, and up-and-down) treadmill for a combined(?) distance of a light-year all whilst standing still; and Speaking elegantly in a known language the entire time; and, afterwards, Answering questions like “Have you had your Rabies shot? You’re frothing at the mouth, swaying, and even ate a pea!”
After several zillion such warmups, the speaking tour proper begins…