As many of you know, I am a member of the Garden Writers Association. A while back, I was asked to be a member of a panel discussion on garden blogs at the annual symposium, which is being held this year on September 28th through October 1st in Oklahoma City.
This explains the message on the tip box, way down at the bottom of the sidebar, that says, “Help me get to Oklahoma City.” Much to my grown offspring’s astonishment, the GWA doesn’t pay the expenses of their panelists. You get a small honorarium and a big hint that they hope you’ll donate it back. And my household budget doesn’t usually include a line item for travel. So I am getting paid for a few writing assignments and I get a little income from those ads in the sidebar, and, exercising extreme restraint, I didn’t buy any plants this spring. Talk about dedication!
This is going to be quite an adventure for me. I’m excited and anxious, nervous and thrilled, prepared to have a blast and scared to death I’m going to make some kind of expensive mistake, so in the next couple of days I plan to be asking you, dear reader, for advice. In the meantime, I’m trying to think of this as a gardening vacation that just happens to have the first public speaking I’ve done since, um, speech class in high school thrown in for good measure. Yikes!
About Kathy Purdy
Kathy Purdy discovered the joys of writing in fourth grade, when she started corresponding with a former classmate. She's been writing letters ever since, first on looseleaf, then electronically, and now as weblog entries. That makes you, the blog reader, her pen pal. Her first independent (though frustrating) attempts at gardening were made in high school, though the gardening bug didn't bite hard until her mid-thirties, when she found herself mistress of a rural home on 15 acres. • USDA Hardiness Zone:4 • AHS Heat Zone: 3 • Location: rural; Southern Tier of NY • Geographic type: foothills of Appalachian Mountains • Soil Type: acid clay • Experience level: intermediate • Particular interests: colchicums, narcissus, cottage gardening, NY native plants, gardening with/for children
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How thrilling! I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful time!
Carol, you are right on both counts: I really wanted to go, and it has been good for me to focus on improving what I already have.
Thank you all for your support and good wishes.
Good for you! I wish I could be there among the garden literati.
I have learned when making presentations (which, sadly, I do a LOT), is be prepared (duh), slow down, breathe deeply and ask the audience questions to get them involved.
Bon chance! You’ve got my support!
–Robin (Bumblebee)
Great. I’ll try to help.
Congratulations! We’ll be looking forward to your report from the conference.
(You must have really wanted to go to give up buying new plants this spring! Although, that might be a good thing for any gardener, to make them focus on improving what they already have for at least one year.)
I wish I could make the conference. I joined GWA this year, hoping to improve my writing. As my qualification for membership, I wrote that I author a gardening blog.
They’ll let anybody in [g].
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