I didn’t quite know what to expect when I agreed to perform at a backyard, big deck reading. Yet, this garden enticed me to take a second look. Not only were the raised vegetation beds growing plants, but it also served as makeshift seating.
One end of the deck housed the sound equipment and DJ.
I stood in the garden to take in the full effect of the deck, which the organizer/homeowner herself had built. Periodically, she’d prompt the audience to say with her, “My deck is bigger than yours!”
Another writer brought some designer pastries, where yours truly de-baconed one of a pastry’s two pieces. These treats were so huge, they had to be cut into bitesize pieces to be shared with the rest of the audience.
Before the show, I used the bathroom. Normally an unremarkable event, but I loved the sign above the toilet paper roll, which reminded me of another toilet sign I witnessed at a bar/restaurant in Cuzco, Peru.
The audio dynamics alarmed me when I spoke in the mic. I then understood why the first performer had stepped back and had projected his voice even more. I toughed it out and read the vibrator excerpt from my first novel, Tribe of One.
Followed by reading an excerpt from my second novel, The Adventures of Infinity & Negativa. I couldn’t tell until after the fact that the mostly millennial audience had enjoyed my reading or not. Most commented on the first excerpt.
Since I was the third reader to perform out of five, the show broke for a 15-minute intermission. Of course I took the opportunity to travel throughout the crowd, handing out business cards and inviting people to check out the roulette. Although the next roulette was the following day, no one from the big deck event, as far as I know, came out. Nonetheless, they have a few more opportunities remaining in 2016 to do so.