Daily Words: +0, But Sunday Saw My First Open Mic in NYC!

So no, I didn’t get anything written over the weekend, but I think getting another movie review finished and stepping out of my shell to get down to a bar to do an Open Mic reading on a Sunday evening should count for something. I read Ten-Minute Write, No. 3, which received a few vocalizations from the audience (mostly when I described a fat man’s shit-smeared crack), and it felt really great. I can’t wait to do it again.

Reading at an open mic session is definitely a strange and rather selfish game, but there’s something about the silent competition that does energize me. I want to be the coolest reader in the room, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. But when you hear pieces that are far better than yours, which I did, it really makes you want to do better–to write better, more meaningful things that are more fun for the audience. It helps you tune your own bullshit meter, and that’s always valuable. The difference between worthwhile writing and writerly masturbation is made dreadfully clear when you start to bug other people with your scribblings.

[mappress]I’m already thinking about what kind of piece I’ll write for the next open mic session I go to, and any time something gets me psyched to write all over again is a good day.

If you are in the NYC area and want to come and read, or come and see me read next time, the open mic is the first Sunday of every month at a little bar in lower Manhattan.

Black and White
86 E. 10th St.
New York, NY 10003