Thursday dawned and I accepted the fact that I was reading in Provincetown, to readers and other authors. I was happy with the section of the Falling Colours I’d chosen, though vaguely worried about what to read on the second panel on Friday. On my way, I dropped in to the Breakfast readings at the Napi Restaurant where Lynn Ames, Laurie Selzer, Rachel Spangler, Melissa Brayden, and Marianne K. Martin were reading. I was disappointed at not getting to hear Lynn Ames or Laurie Selzer as they were on last and I had to rush to the Sage for my own reading, but suffice it to say I felt even more nervous and inadequate after hearing the others read.
I finally got to meet Liz Bradbury as she and her partner, Trish, had arrived late the night before. She is an indie like me, but her energy is that of a whole publishing company. Trish had handed out all their 250 business cards by some time that day and Liz was offering free books at our Womenscraft signing to those who collected little orange tickets at her reading.
Perched on the high stools with Kate McLachlan and Andrea Bramhall, and being inspected by timekeeper Nikki Busch.
What was supposed to be a five-minute reading on the Thursday morning panel with four other authors became a 7-minute reading and a chat afterwards, as one author didn’t turn up and another had moved panels. Mercedes remained calm as she marshalled Kate McLachlan, Andrea Bramhall, and me, and Nikki Busch went easy on us in the timing. Lucy and Fran had kindly agreed to use my phone to video the reading.
Reading on the Thursday, Lucy taping it on my phone
I enjoyed the experience of relaxing and just reading my words aloud to what seemed like a group of interested friends. While planning the trip, I’d printed out 10 booklets of a short story and had promised them to the first five women who came up to say hi to me after each reading. On the spur of the moment, looking out at the audience, especially at the friendly face of Tonie, Kate’s partner, I wanted some way to thank them for listening, for being supportive. I asked for a hug instead and the wonderful hugs I got were another highlight of my trip. And a surprise for me and for anyone who knows how shy and introverted I can be.
Hugs for Booklets 🙂
After my reading, I got to meet readers who were interested in getting signed copies of my book as well as those who had exchanged a hug for a booklet (which, in my opinion, had me coming out better in the deal).
There was another panel on straight after our panel reading on Thursday, but I was trying to stick to the activities I had promised myself I would attend. Of the three nights I’d been there, I still hadn’t gone to see Suzanne Westehoeffer, and I really wanted to take part in the Touch Football Classic hosted by Kate Clinton and featuring a lot of the women who were performing during Women’s Week.
The Kate Clinton Touch Football Classic featuring Kate Clinton, Vickie Shaw, Mimi Gonzalez, Jessica Kirson, Karen Williams, Jenny McNulty, Poppy Champlin
A team sport. The sun shining. A group of women who were playing for fun. Thanks to Mercedes for the offer of the facilities, I changed hastily into some vaguely sporty clothes, and raced across with Lucy and Fran to the grassy area where a sizeable crowd had already gathered.
The game had started and the performers were in full flow. I have to admit I chickened out here. At different stages, women were being called on to the field to participate, and I could have joined in, but I stopped myself each time the call went out.
Touch Football madness with the performers
Despite feeling a little let down at myself, I did have an excellent afternoon as, again, I witnessed the energy put into Women’s Week by the lesbian comediennes, Kate Clinton, Mimi Gonzalez, Jessica Kirson, Jenny McNulty, Karen Williams, Vicky Shaw, and the poor praying mantis, Poppy Champlin. I’d love to take part in a soccer game there, one in which the authors take on the comics.
I was starting on my more usual self-berating for my lack of courage as we wandered back to Commercial Street. Mercedes joined us, and we enjoyed the pizza giveaway in Twisted Sister, also hosted by Kate Clinton. I had my leaflets still in my rucksack and we stopped to watch and admire the interaction that Mimi Gonzalez was having with the people walking down the street. She was vibrant and funny and very persuasive. I wondered whether the people there knew there was a whole other subculture of lesbian fiction on the other side of town. The publishing companies had done a lot to promote their events, but many of the women I met did not know that this other world even existed. I got chatting to Mimi and she laughed with me at my timidity. Then she did something that changed me. She stuck my leaflet in her back pocket and proceeded to show me how it was done. I don’t know why seeing my face poking out of her jeans pocket as she proclaimed to everyone who could hear that I was an author who was reading the next day could have such an effect, but it did. As did the unselfish and supportive nature of her action. She epitomised what I had been thinking. We are not in competition and it can only help us all to bring attention to the different types of artists that are there, all baring their souls, just in different ways.
Lucy, Fran, and I went to Mimi’s show. She showed her generous nature again by giving the chance to a new comic to perform for the first ten minutes. I had the nagging feeling that I would be mentioned in Mimi’s act, and that made me nervous all over again. It was one thing to be brought to the attention of passers-by on the street, a whole other thing to be mentioned at a live show. I was hoping that if Mimi said anything about me, it would just be a polite reminder that there was a reading of fiction by an Irish-Indian author the next day. Now that was just stupid of me. You can’t just hand ammunition to a comic, especially one that is so quick off the mark, and expect to get away with a polite reminder.
Mimi spent the first half of her show that afternoon walking around the stage with my face still on her backside. I’m sure the audience were wondering what that was about and I grew more nervous by the minute. Finally, about half-way in, she took the leaflet out of her back pocket and looked at it. She then launched into a funny rendition of my ‘leafleting’ technique or lack of it. The only sticky point came when she used an Indian accent and the audience gasped and looked at me to see whether I minded. I couldn’t mind, after all, Mimi took off other accents and she was raising my author profile in a way I could never imagine. I was curious as to why the audience and I reacted the way we did, but I think now, with apologies to my Indian compatriots, that it is because the Indian accent can never be made sexy. No matter who speaks it. When she asked me to speak in an Irish accent, I found I couldn’t say a single word in an accent. Mine turned out to be a blend of nothing. Mimi finally got an Irish accent out of Fran and thankfully the show moved on. Not before, however, Mimi had read through the names of the other authors reading, had encouraged her audience to go to the reading, and had promised to be there herself.
I came out of the show in shock. And wandered in a daze after Fran and Lucy and Mercedes who wanted to attend the Bold Strokes Meet and Greet. I was uncomfortable about gatecrashing the party and tried to blend into the background, ending up on a couch chatting to readers about which author’s book to buy as a gift for Clio’s sitter. A very nice reader beside me turned out to be the partner of Kathy Knowles, a fellow VLR member and author, and we got to meet and compare notes. I can only blame my state of shell shock for forgetting that I was actually supposed to be at the Womenscraft Wine and Cheese party that was going on a few feet down the street. The less said about that the better, except a huge thank you to Kathryn and Womenscraft for their support of authors and I hope I made up for it the next day at the book signing.
I was now determined to see as many comics as possible. I still hadn’t got to Suzanne Westenhoeffer and the timing of her show was clashing with the other events I had planned to attend. I wanted to go to the Women’s Week Idol. Mercedes decided to perform in Idol and Jessica Kirson’s show was on just before it, so I went in, this time with Gladys and Anne. Jessica was incredibly funny, and I have to say that I haven’t laughed as hard in a long time as I did for the five minutes when she described her one-night stand from hell. We got out of the show to find that Idol was sold out. I ran around looking for spare tickets. Luckily, one was available and I got to attend the Idol show, an event that was the funniest, most entertaining of the whole week.
Women’s Week Idol madness – Kate Clinton, Mimi Gonzalez, Karen Williams, Vickie Shaw, Jessica Kirson, Jenny McNulty, and Suede
The judging panel consisted of comics, Jenny McNulty, Mimi Gonzalez, Vicki Shaw, Jessica Kirson, and the singer, Suede. The event was emceed by Karen Williams. I would go back to PTown again just to watch this show, but I wish they would do a tour with it. Mercedes came a close second in the actual Idol competition (which somehow managed to be held despite the antics of the judges, they’d only had two acts after an hour) and I felt like a rock star’s groupie when we went in to the after party.