Speaking Busybird Publishing Open Mic Night #117

On Wednesday 18 February 2026, I attended the Busybird Publishing Open Mic Night #117

Laurie Smale at Busybird Publishing Open Mic Night #117 on Wednesday 18 February 2026

Special thanks to Kev Howlett for the use of this Live Video Footage from YouTube and Les Zig for being the Facilitator of the Open Mic Night.

My segment is also on the full Busybird Publishing Open Mic Night video and starts at 00:24:20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IriGuPmiAKY

Transcript

Laurie, haven’t seen you here for a while now. I haven’t seen you because I’m still looking for you. There you are. Everyone, please welcome Laurie Smale with the story, Book Discovery.

Thank you, Les and Kevin, for this opportunity.

I’m now the proud author of three books after many, many, many years of trial and error and never giving up.

One of those books is Finding Me Finding You, about believing in yourself and your own self‑worth.

The other one is How to Be a Conversational Success — how to talk to people and listen and learn.

And the other one is How to Take the Panic Out of Public Speaking.

For years I was scared of that. Now I help other people overcome their fears in that.

But my other humble claim to fame is I’m now in the world of social media. I’ve just turned 80 and I’ve entered this world.

I was part of the analogue world and it took a lot of courage — a lot of courage — to step into this.

And I’ve now got my own podcast and video called Laurie Smale’s Magic Minutes

Some of you might have seen it. And I tell little stories to uplift and inspire. And one of them is this.

For many years, I used to be very proud of the fact that I’d never read a book in my life. I used to go around saying that to anyone who’d listen, right up into my twenties.

How sad. How sad.

One day I was in a friend’s lounge room and I saw a book on a coffee table. It had a nice colourful cover, a jungle picture, and it was called ‘Hold My Hand, I’m Dying‘ by John Gordon Davis.

I picked it up, opened it, and I started to read.

I sat down and I kept on reading… and reading and reading all afternoon… into the night. I kept reading. I travelled with these characters. I travelled through their life, through their trials and tribulations.

I travelled how they taught me about awakening to what was around me and took me out of this narrow‑minded ignorance.

And I started to read books from that moment on. And now I wear another badge of courage — a badge that I can now say I’m widely read.

Thank you.

Thank you, Laurie.

Social Media Share

SPEAKING // I recently spoke at the 🕊️ Busybird Publishing Open Mic Night #117🎤 and shared a story about when I started reading.

Watch now at https://lauriesmale.com/blog/speaking-busybird-publishing-open-mic-night-117

Special thanks to Kev Howlett for the use of the Live Video Footage and Les Zig for being the Facilitator of the Open Mic Night.

I look forward to attending more Open Mic Nights in the future.

#lauriesmale #lauriesmalespeaking #magicminute #busybirdpublishing

Shared on Archive.org, Speaking Page, Facebook Page, Facebook Profile, Google, LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Page, Twitter / X YouTube Busybird Publishing, YouTube