FEAR. Nervous. Anxious. Sweaty. Relieved. Exhausted. Thrilled. Exhilarated. Hyper. Starving. Gratitude. 

These were the main emotions I felt today. In approximately that order. Now I’m not saying I can outdo the mushball in our group but I am going to give it a try.

Thank you so much Terri, Joan and Kimberly for not falling into my trap and letting me quit when I said I couldn’t act. You guys believed that I wasn’t hopeless and genuinely cared and worked with me to mold me into the character that was Briana. And it was fabulous. I read in a slightly too-long blog post yesterday that all great writers need validation. And you three definitely provided me with that and will help me become a better writer in the future. (And if not I’ll shoot you an email and you can knock me back into shape.) So long story short thank you for helping me not humiliate myself, and do my best to present a beautiful piece the best way I could. I truly appreciate and love you guys for it. 

So the presentation. I can’t even describe how I felt before the show. It wasn’t a pukey sensation, but I was relatively positive that no words were going to come out of my mouth and my first word “AYE!” was going to be completely lost. Minutes before walking out I was panicking. But it was okay. Better than okay actually. I was clear, I didn’t mess up any of the lines, and I didn’t knock over the 100 wine glasses sitting on the table next to me when I stomped out the door. It was fabulous. 

I want to take a minute to appreciate all the writers that presented today. Out of all of us my piece presented the least work to show. All we had to do was push a button and my video played on the big screen. Besides my computer bursting into flames there was no way I could have messed it up. But the playwrights and novelists, they are fantastic. I don’t know if I would ever be able to present something as elaborate, humorous or intense as my fellow swagmasters did today. Each piece was so creative and to anyone who approached me I gushed as much as they did about how awesome the works were. You guys are awesome.

Not to leave out my journalism partner and fellow sassmaster Katie Bratcher. She presented a piece on doors today that was wonderful as well. I still laugh at her pun about the doors and their roots. (It’s funny because they’re made of trees, haha)

So all in all a wonderfully spectacular day, but I’m afraid I’m not ready to quit my day job…just yet.