I’ve been working on a lot of talks lately.  Which is different than when I was young, when I was working on talking. I was so painfully shy,  it seriously worried my parents and my teachers.  As a young adult, I perfected the art of being quiet, and realized certain benefits. People would think I was smart–at least that’s what some told me. When I had to make a telephone call for a freelance job, I actually wrote down what I was to say before I dialed (yes, it was that long ago).  But the drawbacks of all this piled up, and being shy, quiet and deferential ate away at me.  No confidence, no public thoughts of my own. Except in cartoons. Cartooning saved me.

Now, I’m doing things I’d never dreamed of doing. Giving talks in small bookstores and to large groups in amphitheaters. And (hopefully not) being obnoxious about publicizing my new book.

copyright Liza Donnelly and The New Yorker magazine.