Lynn Raye Harris

Saturday was my monthly RWA meeting. I’m so going to miss my friends from the Aloha Chapter! We’re a small group. We have 26 members, but probably half of them live on the mainland, so it’s usually just 10 or so of us that meet regularly.

We had the usual fun time, talking about writing and stories, then carrying the conversation over to lunch. We practiced reading our work aloud since 8 of us are reading at a local library in the next two weeks. I’m reading on Wednesday, July 19th. This will be my first reading in public and I’m trying not to think about it too much. Ha! I’ll be reading “Maddie’s Marine” from Strong Currents 2.

What I learned about reading aloud? Slow down, first of all. You may think you’re reading slowly, but chances are — if you’re new at it — you’re reading much faster than you think. Slow dooooowwwwwn. Enunciate and take your time.

Secondly, make eye contact with your audience. Project your voice outward, not down to the page in front of you. Third, practice, practice, practice at home before doing this in front of an audience. And time yourself, so you know how long it takes to read the excerpt you’ve chosen. We will have approximately 10 minutes each, so that’s time for an introduction, a bit about the story, excerpt, and thanking the audience.

I’m sure we discussed other tips too, and I have notes and the handout that our experienced reader prepared, but this is what I remember off the top of my head. Most important, I think, is the advice to practice, preferably in front of someone you trust to give you good feedback. Fortunately, my husband is an accomplished public speaker and he’s been giving me some good advice.

Did I mention, btw, that the first word of my story is “sex”? I can’t believe I have to say that out loud in front of a bunch of people I don’t know. Yikes.

How was your 4th? Ours was pretty neat. We could see three fireworks displays at once: Hickam Beach, Pearl Harbor, and Magic Island. We drove out to the beach about 15 minutes before the fireworks began and had a great view over the water of the Hickam display. Fifteen minutes after it started, Magic Island and PH started. We couldn’t see those quite as well, but it was still cool. Traffic getting home was a breeze, fortunately, and I thanked my lucky stars when I watched the news later that we did not go to downtown to watch the Magic Island display. People were still trying to get out of there two hours after the fireworks ended.

Around the ‘sphere this morning, I’ve recently discovered a new-to-me site: The Writing Playground. They have a recent interview up with Brenda Chin, Harl Blaze editor extraordinaire. And, best of all, these ladies are members of the Heart of Dixie chapter, which is the chapter I will join when I get to Alabama. Looks like a fun crowd.

Bookseller Chick had this link to a USA Today article about paranormal romance. Fascinating.

Now that it’s July, you know what that means. Yes, countdown to the RWA National Conference in Atlanta at the end of the month. I’ve managed to be an RWA member for quite a few years now and still haven’t gone to National. I thought this year would be the year. Nope, not with a retirement and cross-ocean move coming up. Maybe next year. (Which is what I say every year.)

Countdown to retirement: approx 4 months. Countdown to move: approx 4.5 months. Countdown to thesis due in library, finalized version: 3 months. Countdown to first draft due to mentor: 3 weeks. Countdown to me getting my butt off the computer and into high gear: .5 seconds.

Aloha…..