Thursday, March 09, 2006

An Intriguing Honor

Yesterday, the former president of my chapter emailed me to ask if I would like to speak at a short story awards ceremony held every year in honor of one of Nebraska's authors.

"Sure!" I said, then immediately wondered if I'd made the right decision.

But I'm actually quite excited by the whole thing, even though I know my nerves will probably be a little on edge. I'm going to speak on historical research and writing, and I hope I can make it both humorous and entertaining.

Even though Bess Streeter Aldrich was born in Iowa, she and her husband moved to a small town in Nebraska called Elmwood. It was here that she set many of her short stories and novels. http://www.lincolnne.com/nonprofit/bsaf/bio.html

This event doesn't happen until April. But coincidentally, I'm also a volunteer judge at Nebraska's National History Day state competition on the same day. I've judged the event before and it's so much fun to see how the kids interpret history. I'm judging the performance division again this year - the kids write and act their own skit that follows the theme for the year.

In Writing News...

Not much to report. I thought about my story last night, but other than that, I haven't dug out the laptop since the move. I hope to do that this weekend. In fact, I will do it this weekend!

6 comments:

  1. Congrats, Melissa - I'm sure you'll do great. Lovely to know you'll be speaking about our favourite topic!!

    Judging those skits sounds like a hoot. Won't tell my older nephew, or he'll want to take part.

    Hope you can get back to writing on the weekend.

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  2. Congrats on the speaking. did that sound right? hehe

    At least you thought about your writing. It's all good.

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  3. Anonymous3:37 PM

    I'm sure you'll do great! Enjoy the judging!

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  4. Sounds like some fun plans with the judging and presentation. Good luck with getting some writing done!

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  5. Read the bio - she sounds like an interesting woman. I know you'll do well on the speech.

    I once had to judge a history fair - projects were set up like a science fair and I have to admit it was boring. The skits sound so much more interesting.

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  6. Anonymous9:54 AM

    What an adventure! Preparing and delivering a speech for one, but the whole day sounds like it will be something to remember! Maybe you can podcast your speech?

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