[blparent] OT: Question About Public Appearances

Wed Dec 16 04:16:37 UTC 2015

Thanks, Jen.  I'm definitely learning to move out of my comfort zone on 
this.  I never would have imagined myself engaging with the public on this 
level at all before, so it's been a stretch for me interacting personally 
with strangers.  I've tried to engage with people, and I suppose I'll get 
better at it with continued practice.  I'll definitely keep your ideas in 
mind.  Asking people questions about themselves is always a good place to 
start.

Jo Elizabeth

"The Bright Side of Darkness"
is my newly published novel,
available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jennifer Bose via BlParent
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2015 8:59 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: Jennifer Bose
Subject: Re: [blparent] OT: Question About Public Appearances

JoElizabeth, thanks for post. it doesn't seem entirely off-topic to me 
because here we are on this list, trying to present ourselves to the world 
as we see ourselves: Parents, professionals, homemakers or whatever else we 
might be, with the blindness just being one of many facets of ourselves. But 
we probably all, at one time or another, encounter people who just can't 
imagine what they would do as blind people and can't seem to see past that. 
Depending on whether you seem to have some time to engage with the people, I 
wonder if you could try just directing the conversation toward them and 
asking them about themselves, what they want to find at the event, what kind 
of books they typically like, if they've ever thought of writing about their 
lives. I realize you're there to talk about your book, and maybe some of the 
people will actually ask you about it and be genuinely interested in it, 
which would be refreshing. But for those people who are really caught up in 
their amazement over how you can live with blindness, it could help you 
connect with them in a deeper way. Or maybe you could just generally talk 
about how adaptable people really can be when they need to be, and that they 
would find ways to meet challenges if they ever needed to. Now I'm intrigued 
to read your novel, too. Congratulations for creating it! You're probably 
not the only author who has to deal with this kind of stuff. Maybe other 
authors on authors' lists or in writers' groups would have some thoughts for 
you.

All the best. Keep at it!

Jen

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 15, 2015, at 7:32 PM, Jo Elizabeth Pinto via BlParent 
> <blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> I’m sorry for the off topic post, but I not sure where else I can ask this 
> question, and I know a lot of you have had experience with public speaking 
> in various settings over the years.  I’m hoping to pick your collective 
> brains and learn from your hard-won wisdom.  *Smile.*  I had a  book 
> signing on Saturday for the novel I published last summer.  The novel has 
> done reasonably well in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats, selling 
> locally and online, but the book signing was a bust.  Part of the problem 
> was the snowy, windy weather, and part of it was the fact that the 
> bookstore that was hosting the event didn’t advertise well and the 
> location was out of the way.  The event was a book fair with over sixty 
> authors present, so my table was only one of many.  I had done a local 
> book signing in my home town that went very well.  I advertised it in the 
> local paper, passed out  fliers, the whole bit.  It was a fun event, and I 
> talked to a lot of people.  So I thought I knew what to expect.  I was 
> wrong.
> Once I got out of my home town where people were at least somewhat 
> familiar with me as a whole person and not a blind person, nobody could 
> get past my disability.  Practically everyone who came up to my table 
> asked me how I could write a book.  Not about the creative process, not 
> about the story, but how I could type as a blind person, or how I could 
> use a computer, or even how I got to the book signing.  I found myself 
> explaining that I had learned to type when I was in the fourth grade, and 
> that my computer was equipped with text-to-speech (screen-reading) 
> software, and that my dad had brought me to the book signing, and we had 
> gone out to breakfast on the way there—I barely managed not to add that I 
> had even found my mouth with my fork and put the scrambled eggs in and 
> chewed them up all by myself.  Sorry for the sarcasm, but I felt 
> frustrated and humiliated by the end of the day.  My dad, who I had 
> brought along because he would usually be very outgoing and good at 
> working the crowd and steering people to my table, either didn’t notice 
> what was going on or wanted no part of it because he disengaged and 
> wandered around talking to other authors about their books.  When the 
> friend who had agreed to do the afternoon shift with me got there, she was 
> better than my dad had been about directing people to my table, but I 
> still couldn’t get them past their amazement over the mundane so they 
> would chat with me about what I was really there for.  So my question is, 
> if public appearances are going to be worthwhile, I need to think of a way 
> to redirect the conversation toward where it needs to go.  Maybe a 
> humorous one-liner?  Since I can’t scream at people, you know.  I realize 
> they mean well and it’s a matter of education, I suppose, but man, does it 
> get old!  It wasn’t that I didn’t have a nice display.  I had visuals for 
> the sighted people to look at with printed copies of the book reviews, I 
> had copies of the book, I had bookmarks and business cards for them to 
> take away.  I have assurances from people that my display looked 
> professional, so that isn’t the issue.
>
> To be fair, it wasn’t all in vain.  I met some interesting authors and 
> found out about some good resources.  But overall, as with  most ventures, 
> there are hurdles to overcome.
>
> Thanks for letting me pick your brains!
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "The Bright Side of Darkness"
> is my newly published novel,
> available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
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