A Writer in Search of an Audience

As a teacher and an aspiring writer I think a great deal about audience.

Who will heed the words that I say and write?  Who will participate in the discussions I plan for my classrooms at the university or my Sunday school class at church?  Who will read the words of my weekly “Home and Away” newspaper column?  Who will read the books that I hope to write?

Even now as I make my schemes—that’s the way my old professor friend and mentor and I would put it as we sat hunkered down over a steaming cup of coffee in a corner of a cafeteria, relaxed but exhausted after a day of teaching;  not talking;  not having conversation;  we sat “making our schemes”—for whom do I plan and scheme?

Who after all is my audience, that particular, unique group of individuals sitting expectantly before me on a Tuesday afternoon or on a Sunday morning, waiting to see what they will have to endure or how they will spend the time during the class, and then how they will spend their time outside of class to prepare for discussions, presentations, quizzes, and examinations.  Even now, I am trying to anticipate my audience for tomorrow’s History class.

Even now, I am thinking of the audience that is my cherished Sunday school class at my church.

Already I have read and studied several commentaries for the lesson from the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Joshua.

But now I picture in my mind’s eye each class member.  I pray for them.  And I anticipate the insights they will bring to the lesson.

Even now I am thinking about the audience gathered before me as I stand behind a podium in that church classroom, before a group of ladies and gentleman whom I love beyond measure.

And even now I am thinking of the audience for this newspaper column.  I have particular readers in mind as I write these weekly columns.  My audience includes readers such as Dr. W. J. and Martha Pitman who will sometimes call to comment on a column that they have read.

When I hang up the phone I always know more than when Evelyn handed the phone to me. And when Dr. Pitman calls—his conversation sometimes interspersed with questions and asides to Mrs. Pitman nearby—when the Pitmans call, I always feel more alive, more in tune with the important things of life:  faith, family, and friends.

I also learn more about my vocation, centered around teaching and learning, reading and writing.

So even now as I write these lines I am thinking about readers such as W. J. and Martha Pitman, who sometime this week will pick up the newspaper, sacrificing a few minutes to read some obscure and sometimes otiose column, written by a friend who loves them and their families beyond measure.

Even now I am thinking about my newspaper audience, those faithful readers taking the time to read the ramblings of a fellow Kentuckian whose values sometimes mirror their own—faith, family, and friends, teaching and learning, reading and writing.

I know one thing to be true.  At the university, in my Sunday school class at church, and in the readers of my “Home and Away” column, I have a great audience.

Now if I could only do them justice.