Need Serious Help

Okay, so I've been quiet again. You've been taking bets on how many months I'd go without blogging this time, haven't you? Actually, you probably didn't notice, but anyway. Here I am again. And I'm trying not to freak out.

The conference is next week. NEXT WEEK!!! I'm so excited in a way. It's my conference. My beloved time with other weird people. We come together, inviting each other into our private little fictitious worlds. I get to meet little old ladies who write twisted mysteries. Men who are looking for advice how to spruce up the POV of the women in their stories. Women who pretend they understand women and try to give the men advice. Lots of authors, tons of books, and no one cares if you stand in the elevator and plot a murder. Okay, the hotel staff gets a little freaked out, but anyway...

In a way, though, I'm as freaked out as the staff. I agreed to do a devotional. 10 minutes. In front of a few hundred people. Many of them are speakers as well as writers. What was I thinking??!

So tonight was my local writers' group meeting. I took my little devotional, and even with only THREE of us there, the butterflies had a war going on in my stomach. I read it to them, with many disclaimers and breaks to guzzle a gallon or two of water. And still I cried. I cry when I'm nervous. Once again...What was I thinking????!!!??

Another problem of mine is the tendency to forget all but my name once I get in front of a microphone. So this devotional is written word for word. Maybe that in itself is the key. I have the speech. I just need someone to pretend to be me. Anybody out there five-foot-two-and-a-fourth, a bit on the plump side, with long brown hair and blue-grey eyes? Come to Denver next Saturday and we can work something out.

I make a mean white chocolate cheesecake. :-)