Die Probedrucke der Near Misses stecken fest im Produktionsstraßenstau, die Website rumpelt noch etwas und weiß nicht so recht, welche Sprache sie eigentlich sprechen will. Aber so ist Happiness-Publishing. Dafür sind die ersten Karten da; und sie sind wunderschön und mattglänzend und blaurichtig.
Ganz langsam kommen wir voran.
Wir: Das sind ich, die Autorin und Steven, mein wunderbarer Zeichner
Jede neue Doppelseite für eins meiner Gedichte ein neues Geschenk.
Jetzt brauchen wir aber auch uns, sage ich. Und bekomme uns.
Ich kämpfe noch immer mit dem Vorwort. Es ist viel zu lang und Meta und will ein eigenes Buch sein. Ich schreibe aber kein Buch, sondern ein Präsentations-Bilderbuch. Light-hearted, light-headed.
Es gibt schon viel zu viel schwerfällige Präsentationsliteratur.
Also tue ich das, was ich all meinen Near Misses und Lost Boys rate. Kill your darlings. Ab da ist es einfacher.
Ich habe ja immer noch das ganze große weite Web für all die ungefragten FAQs. Und selbst das notorische, unabdingbare Badewanneninterview (für die Jüngeren unter uns: Google The Commitments) findet irgendwo seinen Platz.
Heißt: Ich lagere einfach aus. Nach hier oder dort oder somewhere very else. Und genau so geht Vortrag: Reduktion, Relevanz, ganz wenig Redundanz.
Ich aber sage in jedem Fall ganz sicher noch Bescheid. Denn so geht Buch.
Did some scribbling/editing this morning on my 13 Near Misses which I have neglected very badly for more than a year now. Have given up Christmas idea of cutting out paper models from Yupo paper, photographing them, setting up a stage … I simply do not have the time. Instead I did a rough outline in iDraw for Ms. Shy which worked surprisingly well and is now someone an illustrator may use for starters. Unless I stubbornly insist on doing it all myself. Biggest doubt so far: Most Near Misses are of course Lost Boys as well.
Waiting for drawings and a first copy edit of my 13 Near Misses.
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Apart from that: work. Full stop.
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The first round of (very successfull) exams this term included topics that ranged from stuttering to ergonomics and back to language development in children.
The all women rhetoric weekend seminar consisted mainly of social workers and ergo-, logo- and physiotherapists plus an engineer and two students from our Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage department. Interesting mix.
Same fears, different approaches. In the beginning, all 13 Near Misses were very present: from Miss Muffler to Miss What’s-the-Point. I am glad to see all of them have found a way around their very personal presenting demons.
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Loved a recent post by Lisa Braithwaite on being more humble as a speaker (lecturer/teacher/you name it).
Without our audiences, we are nothing.
After 20 years of teaching and coaching, I have begun working on a small book about public speaking and presenting. Quite different, I hope, from the usual business manuals. It does not plan to streamline you; it’ll just take you by the hand and say: Have you tried this before?
That is pretty much the way I work in my coachings. Dimming down communicative noise, emphasizing your strengths. Finding you help your real voice. Considering your audience’s needs. Making both sides comfortable.
With lovely illustrations by a young female Munich artist, plus a wise cracking hell of a cat. This is too much Alice in Wonderland to go without a cat.
A public speaking primer for girls who want to be heard.
By, and for, women. And very much not for the all glamorous or pin striped at heart.
I’ll be keeping you posted.
TEACH & TRAIN 