They’re all staring at you.

They’re all waiting for you to pontificate words of wisdom.

They’re all staring at you…wait. I already wrote that.

You are a writer, not a public speaker, so how can you get over your nervous tics and deliver your thoughts in such a way that you’re having fun and sharing your art, while entertaining/educating an audience? Here are a few tips:

1. Take a yoga class. Yoga is mistaken as a class for stretching your muscles, when really it is training for controlling your breath, your thoughts and your inner power. The by-product happens to be flexibility, believe it or not. We recommend:

Miami Life Center: South Beach
Shores Yoga: Miami Shores
The Standard Hotel: Venetian Causeway
Miami Yogashala: Mid Beach
Yoga Grove: Coconut Grove

2. Record yourself reading. If you have an iPhone, there is a cool app called “Voice Memos” which will allow you to record yourself and listen to yourself instantly. This is a great way to get better at speaking from the diaphragm, the area underneath your lungs. If you sound stupid to yourself, chances are, you sound stupid to everyone else. On the flip side, if you sound fantastic to yourself, then screw what everyone else thinks. ;-D

3. Write regularly. This should be a no-brainer for a writer, but sometimes we suffer from ADD and forget to write, so this is just a friendly reminder, so that when you go to an open mic, you have a variety of pieces to choose from depending on how you feel, and what kind of vibes you’re getting from the audience. This is especially helpful if you like to be spontaneous, and live in present T-I-M-E. If you’ve already done your work, like a good little Brownie, then you can produce on the fly.

4. Practice. This kind of goes along with the recording thing, but sometimes the recording thing can be a crutch, and you think just because you’ve recorded yourself and listened to it once, that’s it, you’re done and you’re ready. No. I always remember what my band teacher Mr. Cagey (I think that’s how he spelled his name) used to say: “Practice doesn’t make perfect! Perfect practice makes perfect!”

5. Have a beer or a glass of wine. I’m not promoting alcoholism, y’all, so simmer down. But if you are 21 and older, it’s quite all right to have one beer or one glass of wine to calm the nerves. And if the open mic is taking place at a cafe, lay off the coffee. It will make you instantly jittery.

This is Melanie Feliciano reporting for Biscayne Writers.
Amen. Namaste. Ciao.

Photo: Alejandra Fernandez, co-president of the Miami Writers Association, is a confident writer reading from the heart, to an audience that includes her daughter, Sofia, at Bookstore in the Grove on July 3, 2009.