Writing a speech is not the same as speaking a speech. Say what?? Behind every speech is a long list of crossed out ideas, outlines of nonsensical thoughts, and a bunch of scrap papers spilled with coffee or tea.
I cram with the notion of submitting a draft. I have never, ever thought of handing out a draft of my speech. Why? Because I do not do drafts well. Every time somebody asks to see my draft, my mind goes blank and I think ‘seriously? you’re asking me to show you four yellow pages of back-to-back crappy handwriting with all my notes cluttered and unorganized? not to mention the positive and negative sides of the speech I am planning to deliver?’ I apologize to those who have asked and have rejected. It’s nothing too personal, I just don’t want you to see my soul.
Behind speeches is a limp kid exploring the world of words, trying to understand how words work with speaking and hoping that writing and speaking would not clash in the middle. For the many years that I swam the ocean of words in writing, I tend to be cautious now with speaking. I know they’re worlds apart and I have to be careful.
Behind the icebreaker speech is just a title. No drafts, no outlines. A title that came to me while I was looking at Johnny Bravo on google and as if talking to him, I came up with a childish title. Someone told me to take it easy, to not take the icebreaker speech too seriously. So that’s what I did.
Behind the “Forest” speech is a woman I know who trusted and got betrayed but still trusts even after a wave of disastrous deception. And I see her and her trust as a vast virgin forest, hard to penetrate, hard to erase permanently. For when someone burns a part of it, the plants around the burned area covers it like a mother cuddling a daughter. But of course I had an outline for this, just jumbled. No drafts. And contrary to what has mentioned “prepared speech” is an impromptu speech. This will be reinvented in another title, maybe or I don’t know.
Is it a crime? Having no drafts or outlines? If yes, then I could be imprisoned for it. Anyways, I have confessed about how I did my first two speeches. Now what? I will try to do better. I will try writing a draft and making a fine outline, not if I can help it. I could say that behind these speeches is the thrill that I want to feel. That I did what I did for the sake of thrill–for that pleasure of surprising myself with what I would say after a sentence.
Like theater plays where actors follow the exact lines assigned to them, speeches tend to be the same. But what if actors did not follow the exact lines and speakers did not follow through their drafts and outlines?
