Rock Star Tips

Yesterday I guest blogged and promised tips on building self confidence for public speaking (Rock Star Tips) and realized that post is no longer here. Only a silly nattering on about how I was nervous conducting my workshop Channeling Your Inner Rock Star.

Here are my tips in a nutshell (acorn, if you're wondering)

When speaking in public or just meeting your public:

1. Wear something fabulous that makes you feel extra special. Even a pedicure counts because the whole idea is to make you FEEL like you are extraordinary. Carry a small token to give you courage, like a seashell.
2. Give yourself a stage name if you don't already have a pen name. This will be how you refer to yourself in your own mind when summoning the alter ego who is fabulous in front of crowds and oozes self confidence.
3. Imagine that person has an entourage, a secretary, a personal umbrella handler (PUH) and twenty employees who handle her every need. She also has a second home in ______. You fill in where you've always wanted to live, given scads of moulah.
4. Smile, Nod, Take deep breaths. People will wait if you seem confident. Don't be afraid of dead space. It is like the period after your profound comment.
5. Imagine the group in front of you as a gathering of friends who love you. They WANT you to be fabulous, engaging, honest. There's nothing worse than trying to watch someone who is terrified of failure or rejection. If you believe you are wonderful, the audience will too.
6. Don't look directly at anyone, just scan the sea of faces, in a large crowd and play to the back of the room.
7. If they laugh at your joke, use that pause to collect yourself and proceed.
8. Try to enjoy the fact that people are listening to what you have to say. It doesn't need to be profound, only temporarily entertaining. For the moments you are speaking, you must imagine that they find you interesting, or they wouldn't still be sitting there.

There are scads more tricks but these are the essentials. Feel free to email me if you need some personal love or attention about speaking in front of a group. You are FABULOUS!
Kim

Necessary Detour is LIVE on Kindle!!!!

So excited. So busy. Can't believe it. Writing short form.
Last night I got an email from The Wild Rose Press marketing director Lisa Dawn and found out that my second book Necessary Detour is Live on Amazon and has been for a week. I felt like I gave birth 7 days ago and hadn't seen the baby. Rest assured I ran to the nursery, saw the baby, held the baby and told it I loved it. Phew.
So now I have two novels on Amazon where two months ago I had none. I"m a bit overwhelmed and can't even stop long enough to correct my apostrophes. Or check the spelling of apostrophe!
I seriously doubt anyone reads my blog but someday, someone might and if they delve into former posts, I want to have chronicled the excitement of publishing my first books.
I like both novels. Alot. But then I think writers should like their own work. Are there things I would change in Necessary Detour? Sure. But it's out of my hands now, published by someone else and all I can do is wish it well in the journey to the best seller list.
I'm still making corrections on The Dream Jumper's Promise, including a re-do on the cover and having control of that feels good. Wish I didn't have this darned full-time jobbie job. And that I didn't need to sleep. I want to email every person in the world and ask them individually to buy my books. Oh well.
Happy Reading!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AU50M76