Reading tonight...

Tonight I'm headlining the Out Loud Series at Quad City Arts. It's kind of a thrown-together idea of having less-known (like I'm that well known) people read their work before I get up and spew out some dribble. Normally reserved for poetry, this Out Loud is the first where fiction writers are the center of attention.

Scouring my brain for what to read, I opted to revisit some of my older notebooks to write something special for the occasion. What I chose was to go with was an amusing anecdote from my travels to New Orleans in 2007 with the youth group from SkateChurch. Nothing better than getting some guns pulled on you by a few cops while volunteering with kids.

The point of reading that story is to transition into a chapter from Freeze Tag on the Highway. While the chapter is actually number ten or so, it's the first bit of the book I wrote while inspired to start the project while in New Orleans.

The reading, instead of just some slopped-together short stories in random order, is more about the creative process and how my life inspires my fiction.

Hopefully, it won't blow up in my face. God, I pray they're not serving alcohol. It could get ugly if they do.