Appearances

Funky Glasses Selfie

I'm getting ready to attend my first book festival, and I'm deciding what to wear while I read my work. A dress and boots? Yes. That will make me feel comfortable and look like myself. Glasses on or off while I read? The funky-looking black glasses are writerly, but they're bifocals, and switching between looking at the paper and making eye contact with the audience can get confusing when you're wearing bifocals. No glasses. Well, perhaps I'll carry them. They make me feel comfortable, too.

It doesn't matter how I look, but it does matter. Appearances matter. How this blog looks matter. Would you be reading it if the background was black and the type was red? Maybe not. Will the people at the festival listen to my words if I don't look literary? Maybe so. Does reading your work automatically make you look like a writer? Which comes first, the appearance or the feeling?

The best I can do is to be comfortable, with how I look, with my words, with who I am. I'll let you know how it goes.