Living, Working and Writing in Myrtle Beach: Public Speaking "at the beach"

     In November, after connecting with a woman on LinkedIn, she asked if I would like to speak and do a book signing for my book Murder on the Front Nine at one of her local Optimists Club meetings in December. I said "sure" and we set a date. Well, all of a sudden I began to panic. I had no problem signing books, but I had never done public speaking, in front of live people, in a confined area, where the audience would all be looking at me, and where the only sounds in the room would be coming from my mouth, if I could get it to open to form words. Panic city! What have I gotten myself into? I remember taking a class, Public Speaking 101, in college many, many years ago, but I've slept since then so that experience was long gone.
     My connection asked me to do a 30-minute talk and then a book signing immediately after. So now, I had to decide what was my subject going to be. I came up with a topic, "So you've been thinking about writing a book". I would talk about my trials and tribulations while writing my first book. I began to write my speech, and one day I would add content and then the next day I would take away content. It was a continuous work in progress. Should I tell a joke or just jump in with both feet? Should I ask for questions? What if I don't know the answer? I rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed. I went over my talk in my head every night when I went to bed and again when I woke up in the morning. I was thinking, man this is hard work, do I really want to do this?
     As my day of reckoning quickly approached, I was still not sure I could pull this off without embarrassing myself. The day arrived and I was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Was it too late to call in sick? Yes, it was. I arrived at the Pine Lakes Country Club meeting room an hour and a half before my scheduled time to speak. We were to have lunch and a business meeting prior to my "coming out party". I went around the room and introduced myself to several people. That way I would be looking at some familiar faces during my talk. My next problem was, should I eat and maybe throw-up or just refrain from food and drink altogether. That probably would be rude, on both counts, so I decided to eat but I only took small portions and drank only water. Next problem, should I run off to the bathroom during the business meeting or was it too late. Sorry, it was too late; I was being introduced by the president of the club.
     I stood up, took a deep breath, smiled, and waved at the audience. I thought to myself, I am prepared and I'm going to have fun.  And by golly, that's exactly what I did. The first few words seemed to come out of a mouth filled with "cotton", I should have taken a drink of water before I headed to the podium, but after that, I had no problems. I made a few mistakes but I was probably the only one who noticed.
     I sold and signed several books afterward and quite a few people came up to me, shook my hand, and said they really enjoyed my talk. If they only knew!
     I'll just bet my next public speaking event will be a whole lot easier.

     In case any of you would like to bring your horse with you the next time you come to the beach, be sure and come from the 3rd Saturday in November through the end of February. That is the period when people can ride their horses on the beach. No permit is required, but there are a few rules: No more than 6 horses and riders can ride in a single group at one time. You are not allowed to ride on or across any sand dunes. To get to the beach, you must go through the Myrtle Beach State Park. Horse trailers can not be parked in any public ROW and riders are required to clean-up after their horses.
     In real estate news, the median price for a single-family home fell 4% in October compared to the same period last year and the median price of a condo was down 6%. The good news was that 438 SF homes sold in October, a 5% climb from October 2011, while 362 condos traded hands, up 36% from 2011. Locally there is still a 15-month supply of homes and condos on the market. Real estate is considered a buyer's market anytime there's more than a 6-month supply on the books. So what are you waiting for? Come on down, buy something, we're dealin!
     See ya, Steve & Bev