What I learned by reading out loud

I read at a bookstore last night for the National Writers Union. I agonized over which section of my book to read, deciding on one then changing my mind four times. I settled on the lesson about Elian Gonzalez (the Cuban kid whose Miami relatives refused to send him back to Cuba). It reads easily and is a familiar story but my students in China interpret it from the Chinese perspective which is pretty shocking. I also read a section in which I buy yogurt from a little street seller and am approached by Uighur men who want to tell me about their lawsuit. It sets up the reader to understand how Uighurs think the U.S. will save them.

Preparing for the reading gave me insights about my text. As I practiced reading beforehand, I saw phrases, even paragraphs that were distracting. They might be wonderful, such as the scene after the Elian Gonzalez lesson in which Ian tells me I’ll go mad in China. “You can go mad on God or mad on the bottle or simply mad.” It’s a great line but I didn’t want overload my audience, so I cut it out for the reading.

Within the book, it works. Books are roomy, there is space for extras, and the reader is already acquainted with Ian and his helpful, insane advice. But introducing a new character in a short read is treacherous, so edited it out.

The reading is over, but now I learned about editing sections of the book. I want to get short sections published. I have tried and been unsuccessful, now I understand I can’t just lift the section out of the book and let it stand on its own. It needs help. This little story about teaching about the legal case of Elian Gonzalez in China should be marketable with a little tweaking. I will do that today. Destination: The Sun magazine. It’s just their kind of story. Reva