My very first literary event

I really enjoy speaking  in front of large crowds of sailors, sharing what we've seen, what we've learned. I can't really remember being nervous before a seminar, an evening presentation, at least not in the past 25 years.  But last week, when for the first time ever, I had to do a reading from Bull Canyon in front of a totally none sailing group at a lovely shop called the Writers Work Shoppe in Port Townsend, I really got the jitters. What section of Bull canyon should I choose to read. How long should I read. Would I bore these people who had probably come to listen to other far more known writers than I? Larry teased me saying, "you're just worried because this is your first time being judged just as an author, not as some one sharing information folks want to have. But relax, enjoy, I know you'll do a fine job."  Fortunately Anna, the owner of the shop, and her husband set out easy chairs for the attendees, wine, bits of chocolate she calls writers block chocolate.  Three pieces of chocolate and I got going. I had a grand time and enjoyed the questions people asked afterward, all about how I came to write the book, how I work as a writer. I have always looked on the audiences who attend my sailing seminars as friends I haven't met yet. By the end of my first ever book reading event, I realized the same applies to anyone who loves books and writing, I came to feel each person in that room was a friend in waiting.