Last year, I dreamed of reading my original work at least once a month; so I prepared about 30 professional-looking press kits, made a list of venues and spent a lot of time driving around and passing them out. Out of all my efforts, I got 2 gigs before I abandoned the mission. This time around, I finally realized that in order to participate in the type of event that I want to be a part of, I have to organize it myself. So, I’ve spent the past month and a half organizing the Austin Writers Roulette, a monthly cultural event of spoken word, poetry and performance.
It’s been an interesting, constructive way to spend my summer vacation. One thing I loathe about teaching is the beaucratic paperwork involved and yet, I’m now the creator of my own forms in order to organize this event. And like my students, some artists have not taken the time to read, a “short” one-page attachment about participating in the roulette as a performer and/or vendor. However, I take it all in stride since I know, just like teaching at a new school, I’ve got to work out the kinks and adjust my “lesson plans” according to the culture.
I took an 8 am yoga class just to help calm mind nerves, which worked for the first two-thirds of the class, but I became increasingly nauseous toward the end. I managed to stay in the room by doing one set of the last four postures. Once I left the intense heat of the bikram yoga room, the nausea subsided.
In a few hours, I’ll get to see my plan unfold and see where the gaps are. Better than that, I’ll get to emcee my very own event, introducing a line up who I personally recruited and whose material I’ve reviewed for an audience to whom I advertised with the help of social and traditional media.
At this point, all that needs to be done is to set up the chairs, my vending table, and the audio equipment. Come what may, I’m going to take comfort that I’ve done all that I humanly can do to make this first event of many a success. The rest will depend on other people–what a scary thought for a control-freak Virgo like myself!
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