Hello! My name is Diarmid – and I’m an author!
There, that wasn’t so difficult after all. In fact, it was really easy...and so it bloomin’ well should be!
You see, I am proud to be able to call myself an author – and so should you be. Now, maybe it’s easier for me; after all, I’ve been a gigging musician since I was fifteen; I played guitar in a little dance combo, along with Jim, a 30yr old trumpet player, Johnny, a 45yr old accordionist and Jazzer Broon, a sixty-something drummer who peered through Mr Magoo specs and possessed a love of pints and Drambuie before driving my younger self home (this stopped when he nearly drove us into an oncoming bus!).
Now, my friends, you may consider it difficult to stand up and announce “hey – I’m an author” but consider this; a fifteen year-old Diarmid playing in a band at the weekend, asked by his school mates on Monday morning “what’s your band called, then?” “em...the Gay Gordons...” (this was the seventies, remember!) Let me tell you, that took courage...
But back to being an author. Does the very term not conjure up an image of a tortured soul, pouring out his or her heart whilst ensconced in some dusty garret, writing an epic narrative, often accompanied by a bottle of whisky (okay, you got me there!) But why should that be the case? As an author, it’s very easy to hide away from the limelight, hiding behind a pseudonym, perhaps. Why? Why indeed! Just like music, I view writing as a performing art. It requires talent (of course it does; many people think that they could write a book – they often tell me so – but how many can actually sit down and string together 80,000 to 120,000 words in a cohesive and entertaining manner?) It requires plenty of hard work and dedication. It requires a vivid imagination (okay, you got me there – again!). Writing one single book is a great achievement, a remarkable accomplishment, of which each and every one of us authors should be extremely proud. So why not shout about it, why not tell everyone? The last band I played in, a 70’s pop rock band, was the most “musical” fun I have ever had. For playing a pub gig, we shared £150 but, quite honestly, we would have done the gig for nothing. A crowded pub, the audience quite literally dancing on the tables to our encore (Elton John – Saturday night’s all right for fighting) was a sight to behold, a huge ego boost, a total blast...I miss it greatly. Why shouldn’t being an author bring that same rush as derived from blasting out 70s hits to an adoring public (okay, I exaggerate, but you get the picture!)
So, dear fellow authors, never hide your light under a bushel (actually “no man, when he hath lighted a candle etc. etc. – St Luke, ch11 v33 – I know these things!**) Tell everyone what you’ve done; learn to enjoy standing up and talking about your writing, share the joy, encourage those who say that “they have a book in them.” Once you get past that initial stage fright, it’ll be a total blast! An oversized ego can, of course, be a dangerous thing but I truly believe that we all need to be a bit of a performer, even if only to get our name out there. After all, publishing is a tough old world and we all need every bit of publicity we can get. So do your own! Go out and talk – local book groups, Rotary meetings, Womens’ Guilds, all these organisations are crying out for interesting speakers. Practice by recording your talk on your phone – get friends and family to listen; try to talk without notes. Or simply make it up as you go along (I often do), make it funny, sad, sexy...and, of course, take questions from your audience! Oh, and be sure to take your books along!
I finish all my talks with this sentence, and I truly believe it!
“You know, ever since I was young I dreamed of being a rock star, but it seems that being an author is the new Rock ‘n’ Roll...”
So, my friends, my name is Diarmid and I’m an author – and so are you!
** I don’t, actually, I just checked the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations...!