Let me tell you, you are LUCKY that you don’t live in my house right now. Because I have been rather silent and snarling for days.

This whole public speaking stuff… it involves several pre-event nightmares (literal nightmares), followed by pre-event stomach aches. The actual speaking part is usually quite fun. And then there are the post-event jitters and the hours-long wait for my heart rate to return to normal. I keep signing up for these presentations thinking that increased practice will result in decreased symptoms. So far, not true.

Nevertheless…

My two talks at Dr. R.E. McKechnie Elementary School went very well yesterday. The kids were funny and attentive and capable of wonderfully dramatic death scenes. You will be happy to hear that I managed to put on all my clothes the right way around. I did wear my underwear outside my pants, briefly, but that was on purpose and so doesn’t count.

Thank you to the students and staff at McKechnie for being wonderful hosts, and a big thank you to librarian (and writer!) Nancy Hundal for organizing.