This is a great essay. I experience full on anxiety for 24 hours before every Junction Reads event. When we were in public with an audience, I'd often spend the hour before leaving the house lying on my bed imagining the best and worst of it. Being online has distilled the anxiety, but it is still there. But I just love talking to writers about their work and how they work. After every reading, I feel like I worked out. I have only read my own fiction in front of an audience twice in my life. Once when I was 32 and again when I was 46. The odd thing about all this, is I was a sketch comic and improvisor for 6 years and, although there was a lot of anxiety in that, it felt easier to get on stage and BE someone else.
Awesome essay on performance anxiety!
Thanks Margaret!
This is a great essay. I experience full on anxiety for 24 hours before every Junction Reads event. When we were in public with an audience, I'd often spend the hour before leaving the house lying on my bed imagining the best and worst of it. Being online has distilled the anxiety, but it is still there. But I just love talking to writers about their work and how they work. After every reading, I feel like I worked out. I have only read my own fiction in front of an audience twice in my life. Once when I was 32 and again when I was 46. The odd thing about all this, is I was a sketch comic and improvisor for 6 years and, although there was a lot of anxiety in that, it felt easier to get on stage and BE someone else.
Thanks for sharing Alison! I completely relate to the feeling of working out. It is exhausting. Very interesting about the sketch comedy too!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences- great essay! I feel completely drained after spending so much time being anxious before an event.