How to use this Page

Do you remember the giddy thrill of book fairs and book orders in grade school? As a kid, I used to live for those days when some bookseller would brings cases full of the newest Hardy Boys books to my school.

Over the weekend, the Brooklyn Book Festival made me feel the same way. I saw so many cool people: Rachel Fershleiser from Smith Magazine, author A.M. Homes, editor and novelist Ed Park.

A.M. Homes won my Best Advice for Fledgling Writers Award, telling Brooklyn writers to pay attention to the economics of their characters. Questions like "How do they earn money?" and "How do they spend money?" are equally important as questions like "Where do they live?"

I missed Ed Champion and Matthew Cheney, and Matthew missed Ed too, but he turned the whole experience into an existential crisis:

"I never saw Ed. Sure, there were 10,000 people at the festival, but still. If anybody can stand out amidst 10,000 people, it's Ed. I think one of us doesn't exist."

Fantasy novelist Robert Jordan has died. I spent many happy days buried under blankets and reading his fantasy series, Wheel of Time. I never even finished the gosh darn collection, but the experience of reading him was truly satisfying. Rest in Peace.

I live in New York City and I love to tell stories. That means I've attended lots and lots of readings. I go to book parties and storytelling events the way some people go to bowling night.

But last night I stumbled upon the secret to building the best reading possible.

Mix it up. When your reading contains an endless stream of people reading text off a page, you will lose friends and readers by the end of the first hour. If you include musicians and short films, an audience can stick with you for two hours.

It worked beautifully last night at the MDP/Sensei Bazaar. The reading blended writers, short film and music, and the crowd stayed for two and a half hours. My story was lodged in between the hilarious animation of Michael Overbeck (who's "Tongues and Taxis" scene decorates this post) and the multimedia noise rock of Miami Ice Machine.

The lesson is so simple, you can miss it: Don't just read your book/poem/short story next time, share the reading with different kinds of artists. Your audience will thank you.