‘First you need to extrapolate, then extemporize, and finally express yourself,’ he said crisply into the microphone.

His words echoed in the room and my pen galloped across the pages of my notebook as I tried to capture his alliteration. Unfortunately, my mind lagged a few meters behind my cramped hand. I glanced quickly around and saw people nod in appreciation. I circled the word ‘extemporize’ and drew a tiny question mark beside it before I sank a little lower in my seat. Ironically, the definition (which I looked up when I got home) is to improvise or ad lib.

The author then made a snappy quip and the audience erupted in hearty laughter. I slapped a pretend smile on my face and wondered how to gain entry into this intellectual club.

A battle of words ensued as a new author took her place behind the slim podium to take a stab at articulating her creative process.

‘Metaphors domesticate and infinitize us,’ she said.

What the hell did that mean? My panting, sweating, running-short clad mind puffed in out of shape exasperation. I didn’t have time to digest one heady concept before we moved on to another powerful thought.

If you asked the studious looking brunette in the seat next to me, she would tell you that she had signed up for a workshop at the Vancouver International Writers Festival. I, on the other hand, had volunteered for a slippery swim in a pool of my own self-doubt and terror.

Maybe I could blame my sluggish mind on the aftershocks of chemo? Or, I could just admit to myself that I had spent the last ten years in a world of sales, spreadsheets, and streamlined processes? I had not engaged in literary word play since Mr. Colonello’s Grade 12 English class.

Just when I thought I couldn’t stomach the smell of my own fear for one second longer, the author bungled her words and made a self-deprecating joke. The anxiety in my chest loosened. Her tiny stumble reminded me that we are all just messy, complicated, imperfect humans. That I should trade in my perfectionist tendencies for a little child-like wonder and take delight in all that I can learn.