Why, day after day, or more typically for me, night after late night, do I often spend the time typing late into the wee hours looking for that perfect phrase, that wonderful sentence, the turn of character or scene or dialogue that rings just right? When I could be happily sleeping away, oblivious.

Is it because the rest of the hours spent during the day are less than perfect? The minutes spent on hold with someone somewhere who barely can understand me over the crackle of the cell phone, and the insistent surveys all those calls have at the end…

So your friends have been bugging you to get up there and sing your heart out in front of a bunch of tipsy strangers. Read this article and you will have a fighting chance to nail it, or at least not be booed off the stage!

First, dress nicely and look appealing. You want the audience on your side, and it helps to have a decent appearance, after all, these folks have likely never seen you before. You will feel more confident if you look and dress the part. Stand up straight and act confident, even if you are not.

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“Think of death every day, and be cheerful.” ~ Buddhist saying

You know, I’m not the smartest kid on the block, or even the wittiest or the best looking, but I am probably one of the most organized. It likely stems from my legal secretary work way back in the day. You could quickly get fired if you lost one important document, or misspelled a client’s name on a letter or court document. This training has helped me tremendously every day through the years.

But organization and attention to detail is a learnable habit that anyone can develop and practice…