April 23

Do you know how to smooze? (For my purposes the word smooze means to get to know and entertain people in a party/conference setting for the purpose of gathering contacts.) I have to admit that I am not so good at smoozing. I think it stems from the fact that sometimes words come out of my mouth that shouldn't. Knowing this I'm very careful in a public setting to watch what I say, which means my smoozing is less then smooth and becomes awkward for the person I'm trying to smooze. I've been working on this since my first national conference in 1996. And still, I've been known to stick foot in mouth. (Like the time I spoke to an industry professional while waiting for an elevator. She noted I was published and asked me about it. Then mentioned I should try X publisher to which I infamously made some smart remark about the number of rejections they have sent me. Only to discover she was indeed a high ranking editor at X publisher. Right. Thank goodness my name tag was turned backward at the time.) This weekend I'm off to yet another conference to have fun with friends, to give a workshop and...yes, you guessed it smooze. Deep breath. I tell myself, the only way to get good at it is to practice and that means taking the risk that I will indeed stick my foot in my mouth once again. But, like any skill, you have to risk being bad at it to get good at it. Wish me luck ~ Have a fabulous weekend. Cheers~