Writers do not to be speakers but they will sell more books if they are. Experience quickly taught me a five-minute spiel about my book guaranteed sales. I sold the most books ever after I spoke ten minutes at a woman’s conference. People who connect with an author are more inclined to buy the author’s book.

When a friend invited me to visit a Toastmaster meeting, I accepted. A group of writers taught me how to improve my writing. Therefore, it was reasonable that a group of speakers could teach me to be a better speaker.

I knew nothing about Toastmaster when I walked into the meeting. The format was like a writers critique group that helps a writer improve in their craft by receiving comments from other writers. Replace writer with “speaker” in the preceding sentence and you have a Toastmasters meeting. Toastmasters takes the process a step further by evaluating everything. They evaluate the 5 to 7 minute speech, the evaluator’s evaluation of the speech and the overall meeting.

Becoming a Competent Communicator is the first step. That goal is accomplished by preparing and delivering ten speeches. Each speech adds a new skill to master. The evaluator lets you know how well you mastered the new skill after you deliver the speech. The initial speeches dealt with things familiar to writers: organizing your thoughts, get to the point and use the right words. I was almost halfway through the book without too much of a challenge, but still chained to what I had written. I did more reading than speaking.

Speech five sent me into uncharted waters. Is my body language screaming I don’t want to be here while I try to win hearts with words? I had to be aware of my facial expressions, how I stood, moved, and gestured. If that wasn’t enough to remember, speech six demanded vocal variety. A flat monotone does not hold a listener’s attention.

The club president encouraged me to give speech six without notes. I threw myself into deep water to sink or swim. After I delivered speech six, without notes, the club president encouraged me to attend a district meeting and give the speech I had titled Love Excluded Me.

Toastmasters is an international organization with competitions. I am not competitive. Becoming a better speaker was my only intent in joining Toastmasters. “Not interested,” I said. Undeterred, he continued to encourage me. When I learned the meeting was a contest, I was even less interested in attending, but on the day of the district meeting I relented. I had become comfortable speaking in front of ten friendly faces whom I knew were pulling for me. I wanted to know if I would be comfortable speaking in front of a larger group of strangers.

I arrived at the district meeting and sat next to my club president where I learned another choice bit of information. I was competing against him, a gifted speaker with excellent delivery. Nothing like a little pressure.

I stood before thirty, mostly strangers, and delivered “Love Excluded Me” as though I were talking to friends. The flashing yellow light warned me I had too much information and I discovered another skill. Editing while talking. I edited two sentences out of the end to guarantee I did not exceed the time limit. As soon as I sat down a woman handed me a hand-written note. She really liked the speech.

I politely waiting for the last two speakers to make their presentation before I left. Scores needed to be tabulated, and the winners announced before the meeting concluded. I attended to test my comfort zone, not to compete, so I left. Another woman stopped me as I walked to the elevator. She really liked the speech too.

A few days later, I received an email titled “Celebration Toastmaster: Congratulations Teena!!!” I am the winner of the Area 14 International Speech Contest. The announcement made me smile. I was barely halfway through the Competent Communicator book and already a speech contest winner. But let’s keep the win in perspective. There were three people competing in Area 14 which guaranteed me a spot in the top three. But I did beat the club president who was disqualified when he exceeded the time limit. If it had been my goal to win, I suppose I could gloat about that.

Yes, writers need to be polished speakers. If it’s your goal to publish your writing, I highly recommend joining a Toastmaster’s club near you. Leaning to speak well is a beneficial marketing tool.