Ok, so just my experience with these things.. It seems like you know at the very least the basics, but you don't have the confidence to go out and perform.. Would I be right in saying that? Well, presuming I am, the best thing I could reccomend is to just go out there and do it- do it to work mates, hell even friends and family (Beggars can't be choosers) and soon they learn about your hobby. (No Innuendo.. that's just wrong) As long as you have enough personality that you don't become 'the magic guy' or whatever, you'll still get asked to perform by friends or friends of friends who have been told about you and so on and you build up confidence reciprocally: ie- the more you perform, the better you'll get, the more you get asked to perform e.t.c.
However, I can understand that there is a wall before you go out and perform- where maybe you intend to perform but you are too nervous to, or lack confidence. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be lying if I said this didn't happen to me either when I'm trying out new material, or just not in the mood to be the friendly performing jester. There are a few ways you can overcome this- namley, rehearsing your material really really really well so that you don't have to think about it: if you don't you run the risk of being able to just about do the sleight or whatever when nobody is watching, but when all attention is on you, your fingers freeze up. The second way is to just get on and do it, be positive about it, think it will go well, maybe even have a chat with whoever you'll perform to so that it isn't so intense when you start performing. The last thing you're family and friends want is the normal you to somehow vanish to be replaced by a shivering, monotonous little girl. By performing in a casual setting, the effect does not always have 100% of the attention, which is good misdirection when you're learning to do sleights in front of real people- although once youre more confident with this, you want to be able to direct attention, and whilst keeping it not too formal and intense, keep control of the group and spectator- which can't always happen if the atmosphere is too casual.
So... the reason I am saying all this, is mainly because I talk too much, but also because I know that buying more dvds and books won't help you become a better performer. Performing will. Even the greats still perform stuff which can be found in the most basic of magic books, and certainly many have and still do make careers just from the basic books. By all means, educate yourself- that is not at all what I am trying to dissuade you from doing- but don't postpone actually performing with the faulty belief that studying will make you somehow learn to perform. It is like trying to learn how to play tennis from a book.
Finally, don't worry. Nothing is ever too serious. You will drop cards, fail completley at sleights, get rubbish responses, have really horrible spectators, be boring, yes- even expose the method a few times (I am sure we have all done it
)... but if you can't pay that price, you won't ever get better- and when you do, the reward is well well worth it.
