San Diego Author Showcase
Auntie was accepted into San Diego’s 60th annual author showcase, which recognized books published in 2025, and so I spent yesterday attending the Expo they put together for authors with books being recognized. I thought it was an impressive gesture by the San Diego Library system, hosting us all at the central location downtown. The day featured a keynote speaker, the unveiling of the showcase displaying our books (I loved seeing Auntie through the people gathered around the showcase…see the picture above), the opportunity to make a magnet of our book cover, certificates for the authors, and the chance to do short readings from our books.
I took advantage of all of it—the magnet is darling—but the reading was my favorite. I rarely get chances to do them, and even when those chances have come, I haven’t always taken them. Sometimes it just feels too weird to stand up in front of people to read from your own book. Not sure why, in that I wrote it to be read and heard, and if anything, I wish more people would read my books, but something about reading them in front of people just adds a layer of…vulnerability, I guess. But I loved it. I’d picked out a particular excerpt in advance, only to change it to a different excerpt right before I went on stage. It was just a feeling I had, that perhaps this other excerpt would hit differently, more in the way I wanted it to, and even though I’m not sure how it was all coming through to the audience—the microphone sounded punchy—I swear the auditorium got a little quieter as I read. They were listening.
Not that they weren’t listening to the other readers, but I do think—I have always thought—that there is something special that comes over a crowd when you tell a story. An actual story. A real story. From real life. The excerpt I shared involved two of them, and to quote a college professor of mine who made this remark after I’d delivered a speech in a public speaking class, “Did you see what happened in the room when she told a story?” It’s why I’ll keep writing them down, and, hopefully, sharing them whenever I get the chance.
Thank you again, San Diego, for recognizing and celebrating books and the importance of reading and writing in this world.