Public Speaking about my Book

The sweat dripped down my back; in spite of the early February winter-cold outside and as I cleared my throat, a million eyes bored into me; waiting to judge my every word. I suddenly felt the need to run and hide. Who was I kidding with this shit? I’m not Public Speaking about my Book. Am I?

First, there were less than a hundred people and secondly, there’s no judgement. Most of the people in the audience came up to me afterwards and thanked me for reading the first few pages of my new book Monique. While I stood in front of a small crowd and thought about how much I hated the thought of Public Speaking about my Book, people in the audience were interested in hearing about my book.

The location was Tasso Hostel Florence, which is located on Villa Villani near Piazza Tasso in Florence. Every first Wednesday of the month there is an ‘Open Mic’ night; a night that is great fun in fact. In my first weeks of living in Florence, I’ve heard this place mentioned a few times already by ex-pat friends and I was dying to go.

The theme seems to be original art. If you’re an artist and you want to air out some of your work, this would be a good venue to do it at in front of a non-judgmental audience. Whether you’re a singer, writer, poet, musician or simply a gifted artist of another area, this is the perfect place to get some exposure.

This was my first time reading from my new book Monique, which I published in early January on Amazon. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. I really did sweat buckets while delivering my 10 – 15 minutes in a not-quite monotone voice. It is clear that I need to be a little more confident about Public Speaking about my Book.

After all, what have I got to lose?

Over the next few weeks, I will hopefully have some pictures to add to this listing as and when they come in.