Last week I entered the nebulous world of online publishing, and I also gave two live readings.  Until last week I’d not posted any of my stories online (aside from my weekly restaurant reviews) because when you put something on the internet, well, it’s out there, and you’ve relinquished all control.  But after talking to a few other writers who have had great success online I posted my story, “The Submersible,” on Scribd.com.  Within a week over 3,400 people had checked it out.

The opposite of sending my story out on the anonymous information superhighways was reciting for friends at a reading.  On Tuesday, I joined the Tuesday Night Writers for “First Draughts, Pints and Prose,” (the Marin IJ wrote about the event), at Peri’s in Fairfax.  Then on Thursday I read my short story “The Submersible” at Inside Storytime, at Cafe Royale in San Francisco.  Inside Storytime was named Best New Reading Series in its inaugural year by SF Weekly and is hosted by Ransom Stephens, Yanina Gotsulsky, and James Warner.  Both readings were a lot of fun, and they each offered instant feedback from a crowd, a chance to share, and a chance to feel people’s reactions.

Now that “The Submersible” is out on the internet airwaves I have received comments and feedback from complete strangers, which, in its anonymity, carries a certain weight that is different than the familiar smiles from my friends at readings.  It’s not better, or worse, it’s just different.  And when I read the story live, I got that immediate gratitude of telling people a good story.  All my hesitations about publishing online are now dissolved, and my eagerness to read to roomfuls of people is even stronger.  Both methods of delivery get back to the heart of why I write: I want to tell people good stories that let them see the world from a carefully developed perspective.