Who would have guessed that as writers we would need to be speakers, too.

Start with a humble (and not too fun, really) book signing. Graduate into readings, presenting seminars and workshops at the bookstores because they work better than sitting at a table with a practiced grin on your face. Rocket your way up the speakers’ scale to conferences and, gasp!, TV. And maybe then even into teaching writing in the field of expertise that led an author to write a book to begin with.

Of course, Speak with Passion Speak with Power, by Pamela Gilbreath Kelly, M.A., is not just for writers. It's for anyone who has figured out that speaking may be the one skill that will take them to the top of their field. It is for anyone who is already skilled and those who are very simply scared spitless to stand in front of a crowd of, say, more than two.

Speak is a substantial workbook-size paperback that includes the kind of advice Pam gave me when she helped me polish my classroom skills for UCLA. Her class included the making and critiquing of videos, and that feature is the only one that is missing from this book. Pam gives you a bit about her background (which in no way can describe the punch and vigor this woman possesses), and then -complete with fear-disintegrating illustrations- goes on to tell readers how to dismantle their fear (the most important step, really), and then moves on to tell you how to, what she calls, "Pour on the Juice."

Pam uses case studies from those she's taught, gives reader exercises, and even advances the reader to using visuals comfortably. I still prefer not to use visuals beyond a blackboard or flip chart. Guess I'll have to go back to another of her classes. It's part of what UCLA does to make polished instructors out of their raw jewels. But trust me. If I didn't have access to that, this book would be the source I'd use. And it's only $19.95! Order it at Speak-With_Passion.com.