Today I had fun. You probably wouldn't call it fun, but I would. I enjoyed it immensely. I gave a talk. I spoke in public. To a group of people. Ones I didn't know.

I've been told that the fear of public speaking is the number one fear in America. Obviously it's not my number one fear.

Four weeks ago I got an email from a mom who had sat in on one of my writing classes. She needed someone to speak to homeschooling moms about teaching writing. She asked if I would do it. I said yes. I spent about five hours working on what I wanted to cover. (I still missed a point that I'd written down.) I typed it all out. I did research by going through old files. I organized my information based on the questions the moms had given her.

Tonight I went. I didn't know what to expect. I think in the three years I've been here, I may have been at one of those meetings. At 7:30 there were about ten people there. That's fine with me. I know how to speak to ten people. I'm used to that.

When I got up to talk, about 7:45, the room was full. Probably there were 100 people there. Some of them have been homeschooling for years. It was a bit intimidating, but I just talked.

When I finished talking I asked for questions. I got some questions and some very useful comments. (One mom says, “It's time for bed. But you can stay up writing for half an hour if you would prefer.” Of course the child chooses to write.)

At 8:50 I finished up. Several people came to talk to me afterwards, to share their experiences, to ask questions, to say thanks. I had fun.

I asked Deanne if I'd done what she wanted. She said yes. So hopefully we're all satisfied.