OTHER PEOPLE'S PETS by R.L. Maizes - The National Book Review "A (Very) Anxious Public Speaker Goes On Book Tour"

The National Book Review | September 17, 2020

“As the salutatorian of my eighth grade class, I was invited to give a speech at graduation. Even as a child, I didn’t like coming in second, but I understood the invitation was an honor. With my mother’s help, I prepared a talk and practiced it for hours. My family was going through one of its poorer phases, so the night of the graduation I wore an ugly hand-me-down from my sister, a pink dress with a high collar that made my neck itch. In a moment of vanity, I left my glasses at home, though I was horribly nearsighted. Standing before a crowd of hushed parents in a dimly lit auditorium, I looked down at my speech and discovered I couldn’t read a word.

Flash forward forty plus years. At a literary festival, I was about to read for the first time  from my debut book, a collection of short stories. I trembled violently, as panicked as my younger self. I was used to people reading my work, if they read it at all, somewhere, anywhere, miles away from me. I’m not a coffee-shop writer, or a library writer, when those venues are available. I work alone in my house, content for days to go by without leaving. But to get the word out about my new book, I had to appear before the public. Even now, as I try to promote my debut novel during a pandemic, I must find ways to reach the public, if only virtually.”

Follow the link above to read R.L. Maizes’ full essay.

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