I love to watch people read.  There’s something very engaging about watching their expression change as their eyes pass over the pages.  Children are especially fun to watch, as they have not yet gained the ability to control their expressions… they haven’t nailed their poker face, so to speak.

I think this is why I love to watch people reading my work, though most hate being watched and will go out of their way to appear emotionless if they know there are eyes upon them.  What they don’t realize is that they are taking all of the fun out of the experience.  We want to see their eyebrows raise, furrow or twitch.  We want to catch that slight cocking of the head, a curious look upon their face for a moment.  We live for these emotions.

As writers, we really don’t get to see that which our readers feel.  Unless we are an open mic night, we have no way of getting this kind of interaction (and even then, between the lights and the distance between the stage and the crowd, it’s hard to see anyone’s face very clearly).

So it is that I have begun watching people reading… regardless of what they are reading.  Perhaps once I get a novel published I will happen upon someone reading it… course the odds of this ever happening are quite astronomical.  Still, it is a dream of mine.

I only hope they don’t hide their emotions, that I may know what they think of it.

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