The Table-Sitter

In baseball lingo, the lead-off hitter is commonly referred to as the table-setter. The one whose charge is to, well, set the table for the rest of the batters. It's his job to get on base, so that the other hitters can drive him home.

On a blustery Friday the 13th, the Chicago Writers Association held its first-ever reading event at The Book Cellar, in Chicago's trendy Lincoln Square neighborhood. Eight authors representing a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and poetry read from their works.

I was the one chosen to bat lead-off, to be the table-setter. At a little after 7 PM, I took a seat at a little table that had been set up for readers in the middle of the room, against a wall of books and magazines. Looking out from my vantage point, I noticed that every seat in the room was filled. Outside of the readings that I had done on my wedding day and at my book release party, this would be the largest crowd to which I'd ever read my words. The difference was, this time I didn't know most of the people to whom I would be reading.

Just about every night, I read to my son, age three. Even though the books I read are for kids, reading them out loud has made me more comfortable with hearing my voice when I read my own words. If you think about it, most people rarely, if ever, hear themselves read. When you read a book, ordinarily you don't speak the words. 

Now when I go out in public to read my own words, I put my mind in my son's bedroom, sitting on the floor, pillows plopped against his bed. That's the place where I was for the fifteen minutes when I was "on the stage" at The Book Cellar.

When I folded up the pieces of paper on which were the words to the first chapter of my novel-in-progress and placed them in my book, I felt pretty good about my readings. The reactions from the crowd were good. I got laughter and attentive quiet in all the right places.

Then something happened. The next author came up to replace me but didn't sit down. For fifteen minutes, she stood and read, her theatrical background clearly in evidence. She, not me, had set the table, as one author after another followed her lead and stood for their readings.

At one point, my dear wife commented, "You should have stood for your reading."

I nodded and gulped down the rest of my glass of Pinot Noir, realizing that I was not the table-setter for the night, but the table-sitter.

You can see all the other wonderful authors standing and yours truly sitting in this photo journal that I put together for the Chicago Writers Association's Web site.  

Comments

[Bethany]

It was one night Randy. One reading. Now you know for *next* time, right? And, one can command a room from a sitting position just fine. Really. One of my best college professors never left his chair, but kept a room full of hung-over college students upright and attentive in an 8am class. I have no doubt you did the same....

[R.J. Baker]

Have a Pinot Noir on me...