The proper way to do a reading
I have friends in New York City, and I’ve spent a bit of time there off and on over the years. Enough to know it’s a very different place. I grew up in the South, after all. It’s a place unto itself, for sure, not so much a part of America as in spite of it. And so, quintessentially American. But it ain’t Kansas, Dorothy.
A friend on the west coast, a fellow writer and small boat sailor, contacted me about a new project the other day. We met through a mutual love for writing over 20 years ago, and he went on to publish one of the first online literary journals for the web, The Blue Moon Review. It’s been dark for some time now (kids, life, etc.) but he’s been writing again, and got the bug, so has decided to fire it up again as The Blue Penny Quarterly.
We think a lot alike, and I’ve offered to design and produce the digital downloadable version of it. Should be fun, with lots of experimentation and pushing the limits on things. There’s so much you can do with this medium that you can’t do with print alone. Some will fail, no doubt, and some will hopefully work in wondrous ways. It’s all part of the process.
The video above is part of the promotion for a gallery show of Letterpress Art Show opening in NYC called New York Writes Itself. (I have other friends who are practitioners of this arcane, impractical, outdated craft, and this is right up their alley.) I like the untraditional twist on the author’s reading. Hope they do more like it.
If you’re a writer with a literary bent, the submissions line is open. If you know someone who might be interested, pass it on.