Take What You Need

I was invited to read some of my work as part of the Heart of the City Festival yesterday afternoon, as a member of the Wednesday writing group that meets in the Carnegie Community Centre’s Learning Centre. I have been writing with this group for about a month now, and have produced some of my most compelling prose there, in response to some of the truly random prompts that have been given, that challenge my mind to find some way to tie them in to my life purpose.

The first piece I chose to read, Take What You Need, was inspired by the first writing prompt I ever came up with, two weeks ago. When I was offered the chance to choose a prompt, I initially passed, saying I preferred to be inspired by others’ prompts, but right after I’d said that noticed the following flyer right across the table in front of me:

flyer that inspired my first writing prompt

So I announced that I wanted to do that as a writing prompt, and ended up writing about a buffet analogy Ryan had given me a few weeks earlier. I decided to read this piece because I asked a member of my writing group to tell me which of my pieces he remembered/stood out to him, and he named that one and another piece I had written as part of the Thursdays Writing Collective — another Carnegie writing group we both belong to. I had had both in mind already, so I decided to go with them. He told me he would read his response to the prompt too, so we could contrast what we’d come up with. Anticipating this post, I took a photo of the flyer, and then decided to take what I needed, and take photos of those too. 😛

what I took

I didn’t know so many people would be there (probably at least 25)! The way she’d presented it, I thought it would be an informal reading to people dropping in throughout the day. She even told me I could come at a later time, so I showed up partway through the event (that I didn’t know was an event) by accident. They had individual bags of nachos and dip for everyone. I felt bad because I hadn’t even practiced or looked at what I had chosen to read, apart from finding and bookmarking the pieces.

the nachos and salsa I didn’t touch until after my reading

I didn’t know I was nervous until I started reading. My legs were literally shaking the entire time, throughout all three of my readings! It was crazy, because I don’t remember a single time in my life when my legs have shaken on their own. My entire body shivered the whole time, and I honestly don’t know if it was out of nervousness, or out of my body buzzing with power. I felt so much power radiating out of me as I read each of my pieces.

I was happy with my decision to read this piece first. 🙂

This is the story behind the first of the three readings I did at the Heart of City Festival yesterday, on November 5, 2015. Stay tuned for two more posts on the stories behind the other two readings I did, which I will put up soon! 🙂

generosity should be an instinct; if society hadn’t gotten in the way, it would be.