The Writer's Life - Thinking About: How Do You Know If You've Had a Good Reading?

I read this weekend at Elliott Bay Book Company, my favorite all-service bookstore on the planet. This was my second reading in Seattle for The Alchemist's Kitchen and so understandably it was a more intimate crowd than my Open Books book launch last April. Although I am nervous and excited before each reading, it is the questions that arise after the reading that I want to address.

This year at AWP I went to a session called "Shameless Self Promotion" which wasn't shameless at all. The group ...