Michelle Wittle On the Outcome of the Open Mic

I worried. I fretted. I got an ulcer. All of that stuff happened because I wanted the best piece of writing for the open mic part of the Push to Publish event. Well, I have some good news and some luke-warm news.

 

First, if you did miss the Push to Publish conference, you missed a really great day. There were so many different types of writers and professionals in the field of writing that it was just an amazing day. I learned so much and talked to a lot of great people. I am really excited about the new connections I made because of this conference and I urge everyone who is interested in writing to go to a writer’s conference. Even though I was there from about 8am to about maybe 7pm, it felt like minutes flew by instead of hours. I can’t say enough about how great this day was and you should be ashamed of yourself for missing it.

 

But enough about that, let’s discuss the open mic. The day was long and filled with back top back information. So, when five o’clock rolled around and people started heading to the exit with a glazed look in their eyes, I wasn’t annoyed. I was a bit tired as well and I didn’t really do all that much, so I could just imagine how tired and full of information people were from the event. However, some people did stay and I am grateful to them (and I would just like to say hey Marc and your wife, thanks so much for staying…oh wait a minute). I read my story and I didn’t die. I may have rushed the story a bit and maybe I wasn’t loud enough, but still, you have to start somewhere, right?

 

What I learned from this open mic experience is this: as prepared as you are, you can’t predict the outcome. I read my story and it will be going through another rewrite. I found two things I didn’t like as I was reading it. An open mic is a great way to test your material out. It’s another avenue to see if that joke was funny or if that subplot works or not. People are very supportive at an open mic, so it is comfortable and safe place to try new material out.

 

I really enjoyed listening to the other people share their work and I was thrilled that they had enough guts to grab the mic and read their creations to an audience. If you are looking for yet another way to improve your written work, I suggest you find the local open mics and grab your own gut.

 

Sure, no editor came after me when I was done reading and was demanding my story for his or her publication, but I got a chance to read my story and see that it still could use some work. Just like with everything in life, you never know what you will learn from an experience.