Yay!
So I got all dolled up (read: put on my pretty purple dress and nice boots, as well as a necklace) and went to my Senior Reading this evening.
Mom was supposed to arrive at 5:30, and we would have gone out to dinner together. Unfortunately, there was a traffic accident on I-80, and she was slowed to something between a crawl and a stand-still for a good two hours. She managed to arrive just in time for the readings, though!
It's interesting how my theatre perspective has changed the way I look at and listen to things now. Most of the other readers were...pretty dull and monotone. It made actually paying attention to what they were saying difficult. Then I went up, with my story Soulfire, and did a quite little introduction for myself, and settled down to read.
And I read well. My tone of voice changed as I read to follow the words, I projected clearly, and made sure to look up as often as possible to look at my audience, so they could see me looking at them. I played with the words, especially with that story, and made them another element of the story, especially if they were a sound-word, like "hiss," which I obligingly hissed out for the audience. I used my voice to add to the tension, especially as it built up toward the final climax of the story. I told my story, instead of just rattling off words that happened to be on the page.
After it was all over, I got compliments from several people and met up with my mother. Two girls - one of whom I've had a few classes with - came over to chat, and they said that I'd done the best reading of the whole evening. Actually, I got several compliments along that line. ^_^
Most amusing part of the evening was Dr. Retief coming up to me and saying that he liked that version of the story better, and he could tell where I'd made some changes since the last time I'd shown him the story. Entertaining part: the version I read was the exact same version that he got. *cough* I suppose it was just the difference of hearing it?
I should have stayed around longer, as Mom pointed out. I should have stayed and chatted with people, and asked how they were doing, and what sort of writing they were into or planning on, etc. However, I was hungry. Very hungry. So Mom and I ditched the place and went and got Chinese food. Mmmm, beef lo mein.
Mom was supposed to arrive at 5:30, and we would have gone out to dinner together. Unfortunately, there was a traffic accident on I-80, and she was slowed to something between a crawl and a stand-still for a good two hours. She managed to arrive just in time for the readings, though!
It's interesting how my theatre perspective has changed the way I look at and listen to things now. Most of the other readers were...pretty dull and monotone. It made actually paying attention to what they were saying difficult. Then I went up, with my story Soulfire, and did a quite little introduction for myself, and settled down to read.
And I read well. My tone of voice changed as I read to follow the words, I projected clearly, and made sure to look up as often as possible to look at my audience, so they could see me looking at them. I played with the words, especially with that story, and made them another element of the story, especially if they were a sound-word, like "hiss," which I obligingly hissed out for the audience. I used my voice to add to the tension, especially as it built up toward the final climax of the story. I told my story, instead of just rattling off words that happened to be on the page.
After it was all over, I got compliments from several people and met up with my mother. Two girls - one of whom I've had a few classes with - came over to chat, and they said that I'd done the best reading of the whole evening. Actually, I got several compliments along that line. ^_^
Most amusing part of the evening was Dr. Retief coming up to me and saying that he liked that version of the story better, and he could tell where I'd made some changes since the last time I'd shown him the story. Entertaining part: the version I read was the exact same version that he got. *cough* I suppose it was just the difference of hearing it?
I should have stayed around longer, as Mom pointed out. I should have stayed and chatted with people, and asked how they were doing, and what sort of writing they were into or planning on, etc. However, I was hungry. Very hungry. So Mom and I ditched the place and went and got Chinese food. Mmmm, beef lo mein.